Amber says she’s in the best place she’s ever been (Image: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock)Love Love Island? Our Factor 50 email brings all the goss direct to your inboxMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Love Love Island? Our Factor 50 email brings all the goss direct to your inboxInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticeFive years after winning Love Island, Amber Gill is the happiest she’s ever been and has no regrets about the show. That said, it hasn’t come without it downsides – dating difficulties for one, after she split from Arsenal footballer Jen Beattie – but she’s in the best place she’s ever been. Hot off the heels of a trip to Paris to watch Simone Biles clinch another medal at the Olympics, the 27-year-old Newcastle native is about to publish her second fiction novel, One Summer in Miami, and chats to us about embracing and representing queer joy, her biggest life lessons, and her love of therapy… Hi Amber! It’s been five years since you won Love Island [with Greg O’Shea], how do you feel about the show now? It definitely got me places in the first year or two after the villa, but five years later I don’t put everything I have down to Love Island. I definitely don’t regret doing it, it’s opened the door to so many opportunities and experiences, but I think I’ve shaped my journey since into something different, which is what I was always going to do.
Amber is incredibly proud of her second novel – One Summer In Miami
(Image: Instagram)
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Did you come out with a strategy to get to where you are now? No! I didn’t understand anything about the TV industry, or the influencer thing, I had no experience of it. I think part of any success afterwards was just luck, and just that this is what I was supposed to do. I always just followed my heart and focussed on what I enjoy and my own interests. You seem to have handled the fame very well, would you agree? You come off the show and get training and therapy, but you just have to experience it and live it. I’m probably the most comfortable I’ve ever been because I’ve got the experience now, and I can make good decisions about what I want to do and where I want to go. Although, the dating side of things isn’t ideal! Oh, in what way? I can’t be seen with anyone, ever! It’s difficult to just authentically date like my friends do. If I’m seen with someone it turns into “she’s dating this person or that person”, then I’ll then have my aunties and my mam ringing me and asking “are you dating someone?” So that’s a bit annoying! But it’s like any career, there are pros and cons, and the cons really aren’t that bad. It’s nice that people are interested, it’s when they’re not interested that I’ll need to start worrying!
Amber previously dated Arsenal star Jen Beattie
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since winning? When I left, I thought everything was up for discussion and I’d never turn down a question I was asked. But now I know it’s okay to have parts of my life just for me. I think therapy taught me that. Do you have regular therapy then? Yes, I’ve done it consistently for about two years straight and I absolutely love it. I can’t imagine ever not doing it. It’s just so good to have an hour to talk about whatever you want. It’s helped me get to the place I’m at now, the best place. Do you surround yourself with good people? Yes, I’ve got loads of friends and a really good circle of best friends that I tell everything to. My mam is my ride or die but she wouldn’t tell me if I was wrong, she thinks everything I do is the best thing ever, which is great! My best friend, who’s been my best friend since way before any of this, is the one who’ll tell me the truth. Sign up to OK!’s daily newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free
Amber says she has a great group of friends around her
(Image: Sinstagram/Amber Gill)
Congratulations on the book, tell us a little bit about the story… So I wanted to do a queer story, but I didn’t want to make it about coming out or anything super traumatic. I wanted it to be, like, queer joy, because that’s kind of what I believe in. There are a few more difficult themes – like one character has conservative parents – but it’s not “oh, I’m queer and I went through such a traumatic time”, it’s about joy. Is it the sort of story you would’ve liked to have seen on shelves when you were younger? Yes! For me, on top of not reading about any people of colour in stories, I didn’t read anything about queer people, especially women. It would’ve been a lovely thing to read and it might have helped me along my own queer journey when I was younger. Who would you like to read it? I think it’s for everyone. It’s not necessarily, “this is for queer people”, it’s a nice story and it just so happens that they’re both girls, and they’re both women of colour as well.
Amber loves to see more representation
(Image: Instagram)
What else do you want to tick off your life and work bucket lists? I’m really bad at thinking of those sorts of things, I like to be really present and appreciate what’s happening in the moment. I don’t like to think too far ahead. Obviously, I’ve got my book coming out and I’ve just launched my own swimwear brand, too. I’ve also just come back from watching Simone Biles at the Olympics gymnastics final in Paris, that was a moment! I cried the whole way through, I was so emotional. I got to witness something amazing. Mimii and Josh made Love Island history this year as the first Black couple to win, what did you think of it? My whole writing journey has been about representation, so I think it was really important, it made me really happy. You’re 27 now, any thoughts of what’s next for you personally? Marriage? Babies?! You know, as I get older, I start to feel younger! When I was 17 or 18 I thought I knew everything, and at 21 I thought, “Oh my God, I’m so old”. But at 27 I feel like a baby,! I’m too young to get married and I’m too young to have kids. I want to have sucked the juices out of life before all that. When opportunities come in I can say “yes” without having to think about anyone else, and I like that for me right now. Maybe in four years I’ll feel different. One Summer in Miami (Mills & Boon, £9.99) is out 15 August Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnAmber GillLove IslandGreg O’Shea
