Molly-Mae Hague returns to work as she ‘doesn’t get maternity pay’

‘At the end of the day, I am self-employed, so I have to work because there’s bills to pay,’ reality TV star said

Molly-Mae Hague has revealed that she has returned to work following the birth of her daughter in January.

The Love Island star, 23, who is the creative director of fast fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, revealed that she is working again because she is self-employed and doesn’t receive maternity pay.

In a new video posted to her YouTube channel, Hague told her subscribers that she was flying to Nice, France, for a fashion shoot with PLT.

“At the end of the day, I am self-employed, so I have to work because there’s bills to pay,” she said.

“We’ve got a mortgage to pay, car bills to pay. I’ve got outgoings. I have to earn. I don’t get maternity leave pay. You don’t when you’re self-employed, so I have to get back to work.”

She added that it felt “bittersweet” leaving daughter Bambi without her for two nights, and compared it to feeling “homesick”. Hague shares her infant with Love Island co-star and professional boxer Tommy Fury.

Last year, Hague was criticised for her “tone deaf” comments on wealth inequality when she said that we all have “the same 24 hours in a day”.

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

Molly-Mae Hague poses with baby Bambi while on holiday in Dubai (Instagram/Molly-Mae Hague)

“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.”

She came under fire at the time, with one critic writing on Twitter: “Do you think the children of billionaires, attending private school & living in crime-free gated communities have the same odds at ‘making it’ as children who don’t?”

It has been reported that Molly-Mae is the richest Love Island contestant and her net worth is estimated at £6m.