Olivia Hawkins has revealed she's received "a lot of hate" since exiting the Love Island villa, with trolls leaving plenty of "nasty comments" on her social media accounts.
The ex-Islander, 27, who left the villa with love interest Maxwell Samuda, opened up about her experience with online trolls during a new interview on Capital XTRA Breakfast on Wednesday.
Olivia shared her thoughts on ITV bosses' decision to ban social media activity during the show for the first time ever. During previous series, Islanders' loved ones would manage their social media accounts and keep them active while in the villa, however this was banned for the 2023 series in a bid to tackle online trolling.
Olivia revealed she wouldn't have wanted her family to "deal with all that hate" but it was difficult as she had to see it "all by myself".
She said: "It is hard because obviously I have had quite a lot of hate when I came out so I wouldn't have wanted my family to have seen that. But then again, when I switch my phone on, I had to see it all by myself."
Olivia continued: "Yeah, so it's conflicting, but I get it completely because it's my choice to go on the show. It's not my family's, so I wouldn't want them to deal with all that hate."
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She branded the comments she's received as "really nasty", and added: "Some of the comments have been really nasty. I think people feel like we're like characters on TV. But we are real people."
It comes after the former Islander was forced to defend herself after being branded a "villain" by viewers. The ring girl revealed she was shocked by the negative comments she has received online, insisting she's not "manipulative".
Defending herself against the accusations Liv said there were a lot of scenes that Love Island viewers never got to see.
She told The Sun: "Maybe it was a case of big personalities clashing, it was so intense and arguments are inevitable when we were in a confined space together 24 hours a day."
Olivia continued: "But it was definitely not a case of toxic femininity. Now I’m out of the villa I’m looking forward to people seeing my fun side and my big heart."
The TV star then said she was "shocked" after reading everything viewers had said about her, including the fact some started a campaign to get her kicked off the show.
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