Following Molly-Mae Hague’s shocking Instagram announcement that her five-year relationship with Tommy Fury had ended amid rumours of infidelity, her eight million fans were so distraught that some said they were “actually sobbing” at the fairytale’s death.
After all, they had followed all the ups and downs of the couple dubbed “Charles and Diana of the Instagram generation” since they first kissed on the reality show Love Island in 2019.
At the end of her message to her followers, Molly wrote: “Please respect my privacy during this difficult time.”
Molly-Mae has announced that her five-year relationship with Tommy Fury has ended amid rumours of his infidelity.
Molly-Mae was seen for the first time since the split last week
It’s an understandable request from any woman who has suffered the breakup of what she thought would be a lifelong relationship. In similar circumstances, most of us curl up and cry with our friends over a bottle of wine, which is why, from the beginning, many of us have been on Team Molly.
Amid widespread rumours that Tommy had been a serial cheater, her heartbroken fans have rallied to support her. In their eyes, the die is cast: Molly was the victim and Tommy the culprit.
But I have one nagging doubt: isn’t this too much privacy claim from a young woman who has had her own privacy invaded for profit ever since she had sex on camera with bad boy Tommy in the Love Island villa?
He added in his message: “I will return when I consider it appropriate.”
Since she is in so much pain, I figured we wouldn’t see or hear from Molly for a long time. I was convinced she would retreat from the spotlight and spend time at home with her 19-month-old daughter, Bambi.
Hours before the couple announced their split, Tommy posted a photo on his Snapchat account of him feeding Bambi, an image the Mail later revealed had been taken months ago.
Well, it turned out it was only a matter of hours before she was out of the house again, pictured driving her £200,000 Mercedes to a quiet McDonald’s lunch with friends. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, wasn’t wearing a speck of make-up and looked very forlorn.
A couple of days later, he braved the outside world once again to drive to the local pub for lunch with his mother and friends.
As Molly knows well, in times like these she doesn’t need to post on Instagram to maintain her visibility. The mere act of leaving the house guarantees that she will be photographed and her image will appear all over the newspapers and social media, which is exactly what happened.
When you’re the tenth most influential person in the UK (which she is, according to one poll), you certainly know how to set the agenda. And that’s exactly what she did with those public appearances.
Of course, Tommy has not sat back. He vehemently denies the allegations of infidelity and even threatens to file a lawsuit over them.
He’s also trying to win public sympathy. Shortly after Molly posted the announcement of their breakup on Instagram, he took to social media to share his utter bewilderment at the end of their relationship and his determination to take care of “our son.”
Of course, Tommy, with an estimated fortune of £3m, has five million followers on social media and needed to cash in on the split. Hours before the couple announced their split, he had posted a photo on his Snapchat account of himself feeding Bambi, an image the Mail later revealed had been taken months earlier.
Sources close to the seemingly devoted father say he was taken by surprise by the announcement and vowed to get Molly back. Tommy was photographed this week walking through the park, tenderly holding Bambi in his muscular arms as he took her out for ice cream with his security guard.
The former couple with their 19-month-old daughter Bambi at a wedding this year.
Wearing a tight T-shirt that showed off his undoubtedly magnificent pecs, the boxer looked depressed.
Sources say there had been cracks in the relationship for some time, but they kept the romance going on Instagram with a host of lovey-dovey posts.
Unfortunately, Tommy was spotted kissing a Danish girl on one of his many boxing training trips, and that was the final straw for Molly, who had long suspected he was cheating on her.
In her 2022 autobiography, Molly wrote that her greatest fear was that her love story would end, just as her parents’ had.
And earlier this year, she revealed in a vlog that she was battling endometriosis, a condition that causes pelvic pain.
“My sex life became non-existent,” she said. “It just wasn’t part of our relationship,” adding that she and Tommy “hadn’t been intimate for almost a year” after their daughter was born.
The couple have been dubbed the “Charles and Diana of the Instagram generation” since they first kissed on reality show Love Island in 2019.
In another video, she revealed that when she was pregnant, her sex drive “went through the roof,” but Tommy’s didn’t. She said he found it “quite uncomfortable to think that Bambi was there… it was a bit weird.”
Molly seems to be too knowledgeable to share. When she revealed to millions of people that they had no sex life, I felt a little sorry for Tommy. What man wants the world to know that he has become as celibate as a Trappist monk? It was humiliating.
The problem is, to attract and retain those millions of followers who make you so much money (£6m and counting in Molly’s case), you need to keep revealing more and more.
Was their relationship in crisis for some time and money was the glue that held them together? Were they, God forbid, faking it all for their fans?
The only thing I can say for sure is that the Molly and Tommy show is not over. For the sake of their 13 million online followers, it will go on and on. She is portrayed as the betrayed single mother, he as the regretful, flawed but devoted father desperately fighting to save his little family.
And Tommy will surely have to make some revisions to his forthcoming memoir, Lightning Can Strike Twice. His publishers are said to be in urgent talks following their split, as it includes chapters about his romance with Molly-Mae.
We’ve already had Molly and Tommy, the love story, and now we have Molly and Tommy, the heartbreak. So will we have The Reconciliation and many more installments to come?
Both will make millions more, no doubt while asking us to respect their privacy.
