It was always going to send the internet into meltdown.
News that former Love Islander Molly-Mae Hague is releasing a memoir entitled ‘Becoming’ at the tender age of 22 is unlikely to sit too comfortably with those who attacked the star’s recent controversial comments on poverty and wealth.
The influencer and creative director at Pretty Little Thing was called “tone-deaf” last month after saying that she had “worked [her] absolute a**e off to get where [she is] now” and that “everyone has the same 24 hours” in the day. She later apologised to her 6.2 million Instagram followers saying she never intended “malice or ill-intent”, with stars including Dragon’s Den’s Stephen Barlett defending her over the “sexist” backlash.
Now, the Instagram and YouTube star has a chance to tell fans what her rise to fame really looked like. In a video message to fans last night, Molly-Mae promised to “unravel herself completely” and that the book will take oversharing “to a new extreme”, featuring stories she has previously only told to close family and friends.
“I have been keeping a huge project, a little secret, from you guys for well over a year now... and today is finally the day that I can finally speak about what it is...,” she said in the clip.
“I can’t believe I am about to show this to you guys... so I have written my very own book. This is Becoming Molly-Mae, my first ever book.
“And it is literally, this is my baby, we have honestly put so many months of work into this book you have no idea and it’s been such a journey and such an adventure, venturing into this whole new world of writing a book, it is something that I have always, always wanted to do.
“It has been a massive dream of mine. You guys obviously know that I am a massive over sharer but in this book I share oversharing to a whole new extreme
“I have spoken about things in this book that I have have only told close family members and friends. You really do get the full BTS the whole behind the scenes up until this very point. So my whole journey. It is just very special to me and I could just burst with the fact that I am now able to talk to you guys about it and it is now available to pre-order.”
Becoming Molly-Mae: My Story will be published on June. Publisher Penguin Books says it will chart her life “from the energetic child who loved Irish dancing and pageants, to the teenager holding down a job at Boots whilst building her dreams at fashion school, to the influencer and businesswoman who found her match on Love Island and had to learn how to cope with fame today.”
“In Becoming Molly-Mae she unravels herself completely for the first time to open up about how she nurtured her creativity from a young age, took ownership of her body image, battled self-doubt and built a happy life,” a description explains. “Along the way she shares the moments, relationships and life lessons that have made her who she is.”
Early copies available at WHSmith have already sold out and Molly Mae’s boyfriend Tommy Fury, who she met on Love Island and lives with in Manchester, was quick to praise the star, saying he was “[proud]” of her hard work on the book.
Molly-Mae and how not to be poor: just work harder in your 24hrs https://t.co/YHiAPxO4di
— Megz ✨ (@artsngrafts) February 11, 2022
Others have not been quite so complimentary, tweeting that the fact the 22-year-old has written an autobiography was “tacky”, “the least self-aware thing I’ve seen” and “killing the literary sphere”.
“Should Molly-Mae be the new Met Police Commissioner?” joked one Twitter user, while others referred to her previous 24-hours-in-a-day comments. “Molly-Mae has missed a trick not naming her new book ‘24 hours in a day with Molly-Mae”, said another.
