Love Island: Zara McDermott shows off Adam’s ‘Z’ tattoo
Zara McDermott might never have signed up for Strictly Come Dancing at all, after a “toxic” relationship with an ex-partner almost saw her walk away from fame.
The 26-year-old star then had a change of heart and returned to showbiz, but she recalled she’d momentarily lost all her “confidence” after a painful split from ex-beau Adam Collard.
The pair met on the 2018 series of Love Island – the show which had been Zara’s launch pad to fame – and they dated for eight months after the show ended.
Adam had seemingly been so devoted to her that he’d had the letter Z tattooed on his hand in her honour – but things ultimately turned sour.
Addressing their split on Instagram at the time, Zara told almost two million followers: “At the start of the year I finally walked away from a toxic relationship that was more damaging than I knew.”
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Zara added that scrutiny from her followers intensified her struggles, explaining: “It stripped me of all my confidence going through this in the public eye.”
“I almost gave up this whole life and I wanted to go back and work in Government, and I wanted things to go back to how they were before Love Island. However, I decided not to,” she exclaimed.
“My best friend and I went away, we took months after that to explore new places, have so much fun, laugh until we couldn’t breathe, to get myself feeling good again!”
Tattooed Adam recovered from the split in much the same way, embarking on the trip to the Maldives that he’d bought her as a Christmas gift.
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He posted a photo of himself on a luxurious-looking plane seat back in early 2019, and placed a pillow on the empty seat beside him, gesturing that he was riding solo.
At the time of their split, Zara had taken to Instagram to say she was “heartbroken” they’d “parted ways”.
“I love him very much and will always have a special place in my heart for him and our time spent together,” she wrote, before adding: “I have tried hard to be the best person I can possibly be and to make it work.”
Later that year, Zara got back on the dating scene, and met handsome Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson, now 31, with whom she is now head over heels in love.
Adam now seems to be just a distant memory as the ballroom dancing fanatic gushes over her current relationship and enthuses about the seriously sparkly costumes she hopes to don on Strictly.
Although she and Sam went through a cheating scandal after she admitted to cheating on him when she was filming for Celebrity X Factor, he forgave her.
Following emotional scenes on Made in Chelsea, when she begged him to stay with her during a tense walk in the park, and public declarations of love on Instagram, he later addressed the issue.
Talking on his Staying Relevant podcast with Pete Wicks, he exclaimed: “She was 22… so f*****g young.”
“You know when you look at them and you go, ‘She ain’t going to do that again?’ I could see in her face.”
Strictly Come Dancing returns to the nation’s TV screens, with Zara and a whole host of other celebrities, this weekend on BBC One.
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