When the news broke this summer that Love Island’s golden couple Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury had split after five years, the world was shocked. With influencer Molly-Mae saying that she was ‘extremely upset’ and that she ‘never imagined our story would end, especially not this way’, rumours quickly began swirlingabout their break-up. Multiple reports emerged claiming that boxer Tommy had cheated on his fiancé and the mother of their child, Bambi, although his representatives always denied this.
And now, Tommy is having his say. With his new memoir Lightning Can Strike Twice: My Life As A Fury – which features an additional chapter discussing the break-up – hitting shelves this week, the 25-year-old sat down with The Daily Mail for his first interview since his split from Molly-Mae, also 25. But while Tommy repeated his claims that he never cheated on the YouTube star, calling the allegations ‘completely false’, it felt like he was missing the point, because Molly-Mae had always struggled with Tommy jetting off across the world while she was left at home with their baby daughter Bambi. In a recent video, she’d even spoken about feeling abandoned while he was away.
But while Tommy sang his former fiancé’s praise in the interview, saying she was ‘100 percent’ his dream woman and that he’d ‘never’ been tempted to cheat, he did admit that Molly-Mae’s announcement hadn’t entirely taken him by surprise. ‘It's not something I envisaged happening, but it didn't come out of nowhere,’ he said. ‘It's a thing that was there previously to all this happening, but the only people who know what is going on in our relationship is me and Molly.’
On social media, Molly-Mae had spoken candidly about finding their relationship tough. Just days before the split announcement, Molly-Mae had shared a super honest video explaining that she was ‘struggling’ and that the pair were ‘going through a little bit of a challenging phase’ while Tommy was travelling for work to record the audiobook of his memoir. Discussing balancing work with parenting Bambi, she told the camera, ‘I have been solo parenting pretty much the entire week. Actually I’ve been solo parenting for like, two weeks now, basically because Tommy’s just been so busy.’
These comments should have rung alarm bells for Tommy. But whenever he was home with his family, the sports star would be all over social media, doting on his ‘best friend’ Bambi during photoshoots and holidays. But any busy parent can tell you that it's not the big events and public displays of affection that make a good parent, but the day-to-day support. Tommy’s boxing career takes him across the world, and his busy schedule – plus his love of partying – meant he was often away from Molly-Mae and their daughter, leaving her to bear the brunt of the parenting on her own.
From his Instagram presence, it felt like Tommy only ever saw the good side of parenting. Molly-Mae, on the other hand, had been honest about her struggles ever since Bambi was born in January 2023. In a tearful video posted that March, Molly-Mae told her followers that she was ‘overwhelmed’. ‘Becoming a mum is the best thing to ever happen to me but it is also the hardest thing that has ever happened to me,’ she said. One year later, she shared a compilation of videos of Bambi to TikTok with the caption, ‘I wish someone had told that newborn mum how much better things would get.’
Tommy insists that he never cheated on Molly-Mae, but the focus on alleged infidelity in both his interview and the wider narrative around their split suggests that this means he was a perfect partner otherwise. If Molly-Mae was struggling, then something had gone wrong – and the social media star was honest from day one right up until days before their break-up that she was finding things hard. Even if the allegations of cheating are untrue, Tommy clearly has fallen short. He’s said that he wants Molly-Mae to take him back and reunite their family, but it’s clear their relationship needs a major overhaul for her to not feel abandoned again.