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Celebrity

06th Jan 2022

Molly-Mae Hague criticised for “tone deaf” comments about success

Katy Brennan

“MM has really taken gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss to a whole ‘nother level.”

Molly-Mae Hague has come under fire for “privileged” comments about how to achieve success.

The former Love Island star turned social media influencer, who became the creative director of fashion brand Pretty Little Thing last year, made the comments during an appearance on the YouTube series Diary of a CEO.

“You’re given one life and it’s down to you what you do with it,” she said. “You can literally go in any direction.

“When I’ve spoken in the past I’ve been slammed a little bit, with people saying, ‘It’s easy for you to say that, you’ve not grown up in poverty, you’ve not grown up with major money struggles. So for you to sit there and say we all have the same 24 hours in a day is not correct.’

“But technically what I’m saying is correct – we do.

“I understand we all have different backgrounds and we’re raised in different ways and have different financial situations, but if you want something enough you can achieve it.

“It just depends to what lengths you want to go to get to where you want to be in the future. And I’ll go to any length. I’ve worked my absolute arse off to get where I am now.”

While the interview was first shared on YouTube back in December, a clip shared by user @tsrbys, with the caption “If you’re homeless, just buy a house”, has recently gone viral on Twitter – sparking the backlash.

https://twitter.com/tsrbys/status/1478866675969794052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478866675969794052%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-25730132933023889003.ampproject.net%2F2111242025001%2Fframe.html

“I like molly mae but not everyone can pull themselves out of poverty and her saying that is very ignorant of her,” one person wrote. “Yes we have the same 24 hours but we don’t have the same opportunities offered to us in those 24 hours.”

“What about marginalised folk? Disabled? Mentally ill? Homeless? Gay? The system is built for already privileged people. Please, this hustle culture is dangerous. I do like Molly Mae, but she has to be educated on the ignorance of her comments, regardless of her intentions,” another added.

“I’m not shocked, like at all, but MM has really taken girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep, to a whole other level here, it’s feels like a sitcom script,” a third said.

A fourth person wrote: “I respect Molly Mae for making the most of her opportunity & grabbing it with both hands, but I DESPAIR at the quote about everyone having the same time in a day as Beyoncé. The reality is that social inequality means there’ll never be an even playing field.”