Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury have hit a 'rocky' patch, friends claim: ... trends now
They are the king and queen of self-promotion, their oh-so-photogenic romance played out in a series of picture perfect Instagram posts to their combined 13.2 million followers.
But there's something not quite right in the romance of Love Island's first couple Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury.
Take boxer Tommy's return from watching his older brother Tyson Fury's fight last Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He didn't post a picture about his happy return to the £3.5 million Cheshire mansion he shares with his blonde girlfriend – instead sharing a picture of Tyson Fury and saying how much he idolises him.
Tommy and Molly-Mae got together in 2019 when they met on the fifth series of the hit ITV show Love Island
Molly-Mae wanted to get to a level where she could make a living as an influencer – and she knew that Love Island was key
Molly-Mae says she 'eats, sleeps and breathes Instagram', whereas pro boxer Tommy has previously admitted he doesn't really see the point of it
The couple, at the National Television Awards in 2020, fell for each other when they were on Love Island
Then influencer Molly-Mae, 24 – who can take up to five hours to get a shot 'just so' - posted a hasty snap of her fiancé eating sushi seemingly to prove his return. It was so ill-composed and badly shot that Tommy wasn't even looking at the camera.
Not what you'd expect from an influencer who takes pride in her polished posts.
And by Thursday, Tommy was gone again – sharing images of a holiday in Budapest, Hungary, which he is taking without her.
It's not what you might expect from a young couple in love - and supposedly heading for the altar next year - and follows a string of perplexing appearances of Molly-Mae minus her massive engagement ring, which first went missing in December, after Tommy had been pictured partying with women during a work trip to Abu Dhabi.
She even failed to wish her fiance a happy 25th birthday at the start of this month.
Chatter about a split has never been louder.
So what is going on? Friends of the couple confide that relations are indeed rocky.
It seems that there are all kinds of issues, not least a 'sex drought' which saw Molly-Mae admit in January this year that they had not been intimate since the birth of baby daughter Bambi, 11 months previously.
Tommy, who has Traveller heritage, is also apparently acting in ways which confuse his middle-class girlfriend.
Molly-Mae, who was raised in Hertfordshire, is the daughter of two police officers and complains of Tommy's habit of going away with friends that she 'doesn't know where he is going'.
He also enjoys drinking alcohol - something Molly-Mae avoids.
'They are spending time apart quite a bit,' a friend says. 'They are leading quite separate lives.'
There may be further tensions over social media - a tool on which Molly-Mae's livelihood entirely depends. She says she 'eats, sleeps and breathes Instagram', whereas pro boxer Tommy has previously admitted he doesn't really see the point of it.
And although this tense situation does not amount to a split – at least not yet – there is some doubt over whether this couple really are well-matched enough to actually make it up the aisle.
The couple got together in 2019 when they met on the fifth series of the hit ITV show Love Island.
At the time, Tommy said he'd never even seen the show when he was scouted to take part on account of being a boxer and brother of Tyson Fury.
'I didn't have a clue what I was going on,' Tommy said. 'I just thought I'd be sitting in the sun chatting to a few girls.'
Molly moved from Hertfordshire to Manchester, close to fast fashion brands Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo. Soon she was earning triple what her friends were making in fashion roles
She has a self-tan range, Filter by Molly-Mae, has published a memoir and rakes in a huge amount of money via Instagram posts
In an interview Molly-Mae said she was 'shocked' not to win because to her mind she and Tommy were 'the obvious winners'
By contrast, Molly-Mae Hague was an ambitious Home Counties teenager who was desperate to grow her 160,000 social media followers to a level where she could make a living as an influencer – and she knew that Love Island was key.
It was while studying fashion at London's Fashion Retail Academy that her ambitions took a new direction.
'I started studying what influencers posted and how they kept content relatable while showing a 'goals' lifestyle,' she said. 'I had a fashion brand contact me asking to send me some clothes for free in return for a tag and I was like, "Oh my God, it's working!"'
Molly moved from Hertfordshire to Manchester, close to fast fashion brands Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo. Soon she was earning triple what her friends were making in fashion roles but said it wasn't as effortless as it appeared.
'It's not an easy job. You're constantly on the go, and you can't ever really take a day off because you always have to be that person people aspire to be,' she said.
Romance blossomed during the show, with Tommy often seen cuddling up to her. She attempted to keep the liaison neutral, and some viewers took a dislike to her for lying to her housemates over their relationship.
Eventually, she confessed to one: 'Obviously we've been doing bits [sleeping together]. I've denied, denied it, denied it. And I know that as soon as he cracks a smile, that's it.'
They became runners-up
