Maura Higgins says she’ll always be a mammy’s girl at heart, insisting: “Fame hasn’t changed me.”
The Love Island star admitted she’s homesick for her native Ballymahon in Co Longford but newfound love with Chris Taylor is a welcome distraction.
Ex-ring girl Maura, 32, put her success down to sheer ambition as she opened up about her life and career after Love Island.
The former hairdresser said: “I think I always wanted more. I never knew how to make it happen and then I started modelling.
“Travelling the world, meeting new people, I think I got a taste for bigger things. Even then I wanted more. I’m greedy.”
And she puts her no-nonsence approach down to her mother Sharon Higgins who has been a driving force in her life.
In an interview with the Irish Daily Mail’s You magazine, she said: “I try to visit [Ballymahon] as much as I can.
“I love going straight to Mammy’s, chilling out in my PJs and spending time with my friends and family.
“She [Mammy] was always a very strong independent woman and that’s definitely where I got it from.
“I’ll always be very thankful for that.
“Fame definitely hasn’t changed any of that. I’m very much the same way.
“I think how it’s just harder to see that side of me, especially now that we’re all in lockdown.
“There is only so much TV you can do right now and social media is just snippets and stories. You’re not seeing day-to-day life.”
Maura hooked up with pro dancer Curtis Prichard on Love Island but it’s another contestant, Chris Taylor, who she’s now in a relationship with.
She revealed: “I have everything I wanted from a relationship with Chris.
“I think the best foundation for a partnership is friendship so I feel very lucky that we have each other.
“We’ve been great friends for a long time now.”
Listing Dancing on Ice as one of her greatest achievements to date, Maura says she is eager for life to get back to normal.
She said: “I have a few projects yet to be revealed that I’m excited about.
“Take every opportunity and don’t be scared to be thrown out of your comfort zone.”
