Lift Off!

Kem Cetinay shot to fame as the happy-go-lucky winner of TV’s Love Island, but his victory in the villa was the culmination of a five-year battle against anxiety and depression. The 23-year-old tells MF how a love of weight lifting turned his life around

- Joe Warner

This month’s cover star has had quite a year. He went from cutting hair in a back-street barber’s to recognition on every street corner after winning Love Island, 2017’s hit and Bafta winning ITV2 reality show. More than 2.5 million people watched him and Amber Davies leave the show’s Mallor can villa as king and queen of the ultimate holiday romance.

But while viewers voted in droves for his cheeky and cheerful outlook on life, they didn’t realise that Kem hadn’t always been the life and soul of the party. Indeed, he spent his early teens locked away in his bedroom unable to leave the house for school or work because of crippling anxiety brought on by almost losing his mum. Discovering the gym helped him turn his life around, and now Kem is determined to use his fame and huge social media influence to help other people struggling with mental illness to get back on their feet too.

It’s been quite a year for you Kem – has it all sunk in yet?

It’s been an absolute whirlwind. This time last year I was a barber in a little back street trying to live a normal life. I had the most normal job of the all the people who were on the show; a few of them had celebrity friends and knew how the industry worked. But I was so naïve and I think that’s why I did OK on the show – I didn’t over-think anything, I didn’t have a game plan, I just wanted to be myself and ended up really enjoying it, especially after a couple of weeks in.

How did you adjust when you came back into the real world?