Love Island’s Maura Higgins: I never realised I was a feminist

Love Island’s Maura Higgins said she’s “flattered” to be considered a feminist hero by fans of the ITV2 dating show.

Higgins, 28, was praised by viewers for fellow islander Tom Walker to task when he made a crude remark about her, telling fellow contestants that it would be “interesting to see if she’s all mouth or not” before they were set to spend the night together in the villa’s private Hideaway.

“I never realised I was a feminist!” she told Grazia in a new interview. “I just stand up for myself and I won’t let anyone talk s*** about me. And you know what, I do talk about sex, but so do guys.”

‘I think a lot of women are afraid to talk about sex, but it’s a natural thing,’ she added, telling the magazine that she doesn’t “feel ashamed” as she “grew up always being able to talk to [her] mammy and daddy.”

The model and ring girl from County Longford, Ireland, coupled up with dancer Curtis Pritchard on the show after he split from “half-girlfriend” Amy Hart.

Her decision to make a move on Pritchard soon after his break-up prompted discussions about “girl code” in the villa, with Hart arguing that Higgins should have spoken to her before “cracking on” with her ex.

Discussing the row with Grazia, Higgins stood her ground, telling the magazine that she didn’t feel obliged to “ask the girl’s permission” because they “weren’t best friends.”

“If you’re friends with someone, you would never step on their toes. If it was any of the other girls - Lucie [Donlan], Molly [Mae Hague], Anna [Vakili] - I’d never do that to them,” she said.

“But I wasn’t friends with Amy.”

The reality star, who finished in fourth place alongside Pritchard in the Love Island final last month, described her new partner as “the sweetest guy in the world.”

This week’s Grazia is on sale from Tuesday August 13.