Molly-Mae Hague has addressed her 'negative start' to the year after sparking controversy by claiming everyone has the 'same 24 hours in a day'.
During an appearance on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast, the former Love Island contestant said, 'Beyoncé has the same 24 hours in a day that we do. And literally... you’re given one life, and it’s down to you what you do with it. You can literally go in any direction.'
The backlash was immediate, with a storm of criticism and memes taking hold of social media for weeks, made worse by a resurfaced clip of Hague being shocked at the length of a shift at a Pretty Little Thing factory. She's since been appointed creative director at the fashion company.
In a new Q&A video posted to her YouTube channel, Hague discussed the controversy. 'The reality is, things don’t always go the way you planned. The start of the year definitely had different plans for me than I hoped, which is fine,' she said.
'Definitely now things are starting to get back on track. I feel a lot more like myself. I definitely lost myself in the first few weeks and felt really disheartened that I had quite a negative start to the year - a very negative start. I was really, really upset.'
The 22-year-old was on holiday with her boyfriend, Tommy Fury, when her comments went viral, at which point her representatives issued a statement on her behalf. 'She acknowledges that everyone is raised in different ways and from different backgrounds but her comments here are in reference to timing, hard work and determination in her own life,' it read.
Hague later posted her own statement to Instagram, which read, 'When I say or post anything online, it is never with malice or ill intent. I completely appreciate that things can affect different people in different ways, however I just wanted to stress that I would never intend to hurt or upset anyone by anything that I say or do.'
'I apologise to the people that have been affected negatively or misunderstood the meaning of what I said in the podcast; the intentions of the podcast were only ever to tell my story and inspire from my own experience,' she added.
In the new video, Hague also revealed she no longer has any interest in buying expensive items after the couple's flat was burgled last year. 'Why would I ever want to own something that could compromise mine and Tommy’s safety? It is absolutely not worth it in my eyes,' she said.
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Topics: Celebrity