Zachariah Noble has revealed he was body shamed after “letting himself go” in the Love Island villa.
The basketball player struck up a romance with Molly Marsh on the summer 2023 series of the hit dating show.
They went on to place fourth, securing 14.37% of the public vote.
During his appearance on FUBAR Radio’s Access All Areas, Zach explained that he doesn’t have the “genetic gift” of being able to eat whatever he wants without weight gain, and that he feels male body shaming isn’t taken as seriously as female body shaming.
The basketball player said: “I feel like I struggled a little bit with my mental health while I was in there because I’m one of those people that if I can’t train or eat a certain way, my body reflects it.”
“Not being able to do that usual routine, I felt myself letting myself go slowly. I came out to a lot of lovely comments, but a lot of the hate I also received was about my body and how I looked.”
“I’m not one of those people with that genetic gift of being able to eat what I want and always look good. I need a certain routine. How I look is literally a reflection of my lifestyle.”
“The whole body shaming thing has really shocked me how much it’s come up,” Zachariah continued. “It’s crazy. I feel like when you body shame women for example, its shunned, you can’t ever do it, it’s terrible.”
“I completely agree, you should never body shame anyone. But when it comes to men, it’s almost comical, it’s a joke. It’s banter.”
“I feel like a lot of problems with men’s mental health is we’ll read a comment but we’re not going to talk to anyone about it. I think that’s the issue as well.”
“People don’t want to talk because we’re now admitting embarrassment. I don’t deal with hate, I’m thick skinned, it fuels me.”
