Maura Higgins has shared an update on her mental health after she opened up about experiencing “very dark thoughts” on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast.
The 33-year-old shot to fame on Love Island back in 2019, and quickly won the public’s hearts with her cheeky charm and sassy attitude.
However, speaking on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, the Irish star confessed life became too much for her after leaving the villa.
View this post on Instagram
However, she does not regret opening up about her mental health despite initially being terrified.
She told Heart Radio: “I was absolutely petrified to open up about my mental health. I can be quite a closed book with like stuff like that, but I’m glad I did it.”
“I was very, very nervous to do it, but now I’m like ‘oh my God I should have done that a long time ago.’ It’s like a weight lifted.”
“I feel like it’s good to talk like everyone says this, but it actually does really, really help. You know, about any little thing in your life, it’s just good to open up,” she continued.

Maura credited her mother with being her therapist, and constantly supporting her.
She said: “Mammy’s just always been an amazing support, like bless her, that woman is like my therapist. She has to hear it all.”<
“But it’s good, it’s good to have that close relationship, so you can just talk about whatever you want and let everything out.”
View this post on Instagram
During the We Need To Talk podcast, Maura confessed her life after Love Island was “very hard.”
“Life after Love Island was a very hard time in my life,” she admitted.
“I was just dropped to the UK. It was like someone just picked me up, dropped me to the UK and I was in the public eye. I had nowhere to live. I had no friends, no family, nobody I could trust.”
Maura confessed if “she turned back time, she would not take on as much as she did.”

“I’ve done everything by myself. I’ve been independent my whole life. But that was a lot. That was scary. Very, very scary.”
“And I remember a lot of times I was faking a smile. Work was so busy. I was getting barely any sleep.”
“I had nothing, absolutely nothing. I was living out of a hotel in London because that’s where all my work was and it was way overloaded,” Maura explained.

“It was going from one thing to the next, like, to radio to this photo shoot to you’ve signed with brands.
“People will say, ‘why didn’t you say no?’ But you’re in this new world.”
Maura confessed to Paul that she experienced very dark thoughts: “I had a breakdown. I had dark thoughts, very dark thoughts.”

“And it got to a stage where I don’t even think I told my mam. I tell my mum everything. I didn’t tell her how bad it was.”
“I didn’t want to be here anymore. I thought that was going to be the best thing.”
“There was so much expected from me. And because I was there on my own, I was like, ‘I’ve just nobody to help.’”

“You know, people say moving house is stressful. Moving house is very stressful. Moving country while being thrown into the public eye is terrifying.”
Maura explained her best friend back in Ireland had reached out to her agent to try and get her to come back to Ireland.
She explained: “My girlfriend was back in Ireland; she called my agent at the time behind my back. She’s a queen.”
“And she basically demanded that I come back to Ireland for a break. She knew by listening to me that I was not me. And I got to go home.”

“I can’t remember how long for. I just had my home comforts,” she admitted.
“You know my mammy, my family, my best friend and I slept.”
“I felt so mentally exhausted from just putting on the smile. There were so many things I did that I don’t even remember. I was miserable.”
“I didn’t get to take it in, I didn’t get to enjoy it; I fell asleep on a stool getting my makeup done.”
Ever since Love Island, Maura’s career has been incredibly successful.
She has made appearances on several TV programmes, such as Loose Women, Aftersun, and Celebrity Juice.
Early last year, she also landed a hosting role on Love Island USA’s spin-off series, Aftersun.
Additionally, the celebrity received her own show, Maura Higgins: You’re Joking Me!
Most recently, the 34-year-old appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and placed sixth in the series.