"These are absolutely not Molly’s words, these are not Molly’s thoughts."

Molly-Mae Hague has defended herself against widespread criticism following her recent controversial comments on how to achieve success, Metro reports. In a recent YouTube podcast called Diary Of A CEO, the influencer expressed the belief that "everyone has the same 24 hours in a day" and that success is down to the actions of an individual, regardless of social status or wealth. "You’re given one life and it’s down to you what you do with it,’ the 22-year-old said. "You can literally go in any direction. 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." https://twitter.com/tsrbys/status/1478866675969794052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478866675969794052%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.her.ie%2Fceleb%2Fmaura-higgins-defends-molly-mae-following-recent-backlash-544960 Since, she has been met with intense backlash as many social media users branded her views as "tone deaf" and "privileged". Now, in a statement shared with Metro.co.uk, Molly-Mae's reps have defended the 22-year-old’s comments.

"Molly did a podcast interview in December about her own rise to success. If you listen to the full conversation and interview Molly was asked about how the nature of her potential grows and how she believes in herself. This part of the interview was discussing time efficiency relating to success.

"Molly refers to a quote which says 'We all have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyonce'. She was discussing her own experience and how she can resonate with this specific quote.

"Her opinion on if you want something enough you can work hard to achieve it is how she keeps determined with her own work to achieve more in her own life. Molly is not commenting on anyone else’s life or personal situation she can only speak of her own experience.

"She acknowledges that everyone is raised in different ways and from different backgrounds but her comments here are in reference to timing, hard work and determination in her own life. If you listen to this interview you can see the whole conversation was about her own personal circumstances, how she has grown up and this small clip in the conversation was talking about a quote that inspires her.

"Social media users have shared a short snippet from this interview with words such as 'if you are homeless buy a house' and 'if you are poor, don’t be poor'. These are absolutely not Molly’s words, these are not Molly’s thoughts and this isn’t at all the meaning or thought behind that conversation."

The statement comes as Molly-Mae's Wikipedia page was vandalised on Friday with her name changed to Molly-Mae Thatcher, following online jokes comparing her to Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher. It has since been corrected. Her former Love Island co-star Maura Higgins  has also defended her from the widespread criticism.