I was ashamed of a lot of exes… now I know curves are sexy, says Holly from MAFS
HOLLY DITCHFIELD has had a tumultuous ride on Married At First Sight.
But despite divorcing husband Alex Henry, 28, and having their a lot of clashes play out on Channel 4’s screens – the 30-year-old mum can still confidently say she’s sexy.
7
7
7
The couple got off to a great start, with Holly sharing that Alex helped her body confidence and made her feel ‘so beautiful’ from the moment she woke up in the morning.
However, after being unhappy with the way Alex spoke to other women in the group, and the way he dismissed her feelings when she said she missed her children, Holly decided to call it quits last week, prompting Alex to example followed.
Despite their departure, the pair were spotted packing on the PDA during a night out in November.
Holly, who shares children Declan, 13, and Daisy nine, with a former partner, exclusively told Fabulous about her reasons for going on the show.
She said: “In previous relationships I was always told to lose weight.
“In one relationship, the guy said to me, ‘Is there anything you would change about me?’ And I said, No, I think you’re great. Why would I be with you if I wanted to change something about you?’
“And I said, ‘Would you change something about me?’ And he said, ‘I wish you would lose some weight’.”
Holly, who is from Manchester but now lives in Huddersfield, revealed she was only a size 12 or size 14 at the time and had been living her ‘best life’ before the cruel comment.
Unfortunately, his words hit Holly hard, and she began to starve herself.
She revealed: “I just automatically stopped eating and got really skinny.
“My friends started pulling me in and saying I looked really unhealthy.
“I developed a bit of an eating disorder and just had a bad relationship with food.”
Luckily, Holly was able to regain her confidence after realizing she didn’t want to settle for a man who wanted to change her.
She cut all ties with the relationship and “got Holly back”.
She said: “This is why body confidence is so important to me.
Crazy couples that have stood the test of time
Series six’s beloved Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other during the program and soon found their feet in the outside world and moved into Adam’s house in Doncaster.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work off-camera and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I feel very lucky and grateful that it worked out – and I’m excited about everything that’s to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both fed up with dating apps when they applied for jobs in 2019.
Owen recalled: ‘I had gone out for a drink with a friend after work.
“While he was out for a cigarette, I was scrolling through Instagram, waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS ad was the last thing I saw and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later, back home, I submitted the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple who have made Mafs UK history are Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a somewhat rocky start that saw them clash over Jenna’s vegan lifestyle, the show’s first same-sex pairing is still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on her involvement with the show earlier this year when she told us, “We are not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel like the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and the help from the experts… if you can survive that process, it sets a strong foundation for a long-term relationship.”
“Men sit on the Internet and say, ‘Oh, I like curves. I like a woman’s body.’
“But a real woman’s body is a body that has imperfections stretch marks that wobble in certain ways when you walk or laugh.
“And I love that about myself, and the fact that I love that about myself allows me to project myself as sexy to a man.”
Holly said that to help her feel more confident, she treats her imperfections as a ‘sex factor’.
She continued: “I look at my stretch marks and I think they’re tiger spots, it’s intense, it’s spicy, it says I can ruin your life.
“I also love the fact that I have a mother’s body, because without that mother’s body I wouldn’t have the two most beautiful children in the world that I am so proud of every day.”
Holly added that appearing on Married At First Sight has really helped her to “love every part of herself.”
She said: “If you use about a hundred cameras a day, the cameras will pick up angles you don’t like.
“So I really had to learn to love every part of myself going into MAFS because I knew there would be pictures of myself that I don’t really like.
“I’ve learned to have the attitude of ‘I don’t care.’ I love who I am, so it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about me.”
She added that Holly has received numerous messages from women following her appearance on MAFS, saying her positive body posture has made them feel more confident in their own skin.
She added: “I don’t think it’s talked about enough that women struggle with their bodies and with self-love.
“Curvy is the new sexy, and I would love for women to listen and believe that they can be sexy too.”
Becoming a mother
When Holly was just 16 years old, she discovered she was pregnant three weeks before she gave birth.
Holly admitted: “I had gone from having a perfect teenage life to suddenly having so much responsibility.
“It was very scary and very frightening, but I think part of me always wanted to be a mother, so when I found out I was pregnant I thought, ‘Maybe this will be the making of me’.”
Holly revealed that she had had her period throughout her pregnancy and only took a test after her mother became suspicious because she started gaining weight.
She said: “When it came back positive I thought, no way, that must be faulty.
“And then I did another one, and another one.
“I remember almost passing out and thinking, ‘Oh my God, is this a dream?'”
7
7
Holly said her parents were initially ‘devastated’ as they thought their little girl wasn’t old enough to have a baby, but said their hearts melted when they saw her son.
Holly said: “Everyone worked together and we created this perfect environment for this surprise baby to arrive.”
When her baby was born, Holly had to leave university, but six months later she returned to continue her studies.
She said: “I never wanted to be a mother who couldn’t take care of my children.
“I always wanted to be that mom that my kids look at and think, ‘Mommy made it,’ and that’s exactly what I did.”
Holly said she found juggling parenthood and going to university extremely challenging, but added that she didn’t feel she had missed being a teenager as she was never much of a drinker.
The mum-of-two said: “I enjoyed being a mum so much that my life suddenly became all about me and my son.
“At no point did it click in my head that I should try to keep up with what everyone my age was doing.”
At the age of 19, Holly unexpectedly became pregnant again and gave birth to her “crazy” daughter Daisy.
Daisy was initially a twin, and Holly unfortunately miscarried the baby, unknowingly, saying her life would have been “so different”.
Holly now has a successful beauty company which she does from her own home, meaning she can take care of her two children while earning money.
The businesswoman said: “They are still at home and happy at home, while mommy runs upstairs and whips girls.”
7
7
