Love Island's Belle Hassan details self harm battle amid struggle with self hate

30 September 2023 , 15:22

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Love Island star opens up on self harm battle as she struggled with 'a lot of self hate' (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

A former Love Island star has opened up about her battle with self harming and 'self hate'.

Belle Hassan, who featured as part of the cast of Love Island 2019 alongside Maura Higgins, Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae Hague, has bravely admitted to her battle with self harm, which she described as "soft of like having an addiction".

The reality star, who regularly shows off her make up and beauty looks to her 915,000 Instagram followers, has discussed how she struggled with her self image and self esteem in her teenage years which led to her using self harming to "feel better".

Belle appeared on the 2019 series of Love Island (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Speaking in an interview with OK! Magazine, Belle revealed: "I was trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted from life. I had a lot of self-hate and felt like I wasn’t enough."

Belle added that she had "no idea" what made her start self harming, but that she thought she may have done it to "feel better" as she added that she had so much emotion but didn't know how to communicate it.

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The reality star added that whilst she's now open with her family and friends, when she was younger she felt ashamed or that she might get into trouble.

At 19, she said she needed to find a source of escapism and do something she really loves - and she found it in the beauty industry. She explained: "Beauty and make-up gave me an escapism. When my mental health isn't in the best place, beauty gives me something to focus on and take my mind off of it. It's my own creative outlet and helps create your own identity."

This isn't the first time Belle has opened up about her battle with self harm, in 2021 she said she started self-harming at 13 years old after being branded a 'sl*g' by a boy she used to date.

Speaking to The Sun, she explained : "I went through a very long stage of hating everything about myself. For so many years, I’d look at myself in the mirror and think I was absolutely disgusting. I felt worthless and had all this anger I needed to let out. This is what gave me my release. But it was also about punishment because I hated myself so much."

She added: "I hated myself for not being what I wanted to be, and self-harming became my way of expressing that pain."

If you are struggling with mental health, you can speak to a trained advisor from Mind mental health charity on 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk

Niamh Spence