Former Love Island winner has said watching herself back on the show has made her think it was always obvious that she’s gay.
The 26-year-old confirmed her sexuality in August 2022, a month after a viral tweet she sent about ‘switching teams’.
Amber had told her followers, in commentary about the Love Island boys’ Casa Amor behaviour, that ‘switching teams was the best decision I made in my life’.
She added: ‘Watching men makes me feel ill I couldn’t put myself through it again.’
After the frenzied reaction online, Amber said she would discuss her sexuality when she was ready to, before opening up that she ‘meant exactly what I said’.
Amber, who is dating footballer Jen Beattie, has now spoken about how it was ‘painfully obvious’ that she was gay on Love Island.
Talking about watching old clips of her series, in which she won with Greg O’Shea, Amber said: ‘I watched back on the shows that I’ve been on and I’m like, “God, you’re so gay! You really are really gay!”
‘If I get some clips up on TikTok, it’s so painfully obvious, everyone’s like, “Oh, you’re just really picky. You’re just this, you’re just that.” And I’m like, “No, I just like girls.”
‘But it just something wasn’t clicking in my brain. I just wasn’t getting it.’
Chatting on YouTube series Queerpiphany, in her first ever filmed sit down interview about coming out as gay, Amber continued: ‘Even now, people don’t believe it they’re like, “You’re just an attention seeker, you’re trying to do this new thing.”
‘And like, “I am so not attention seekery”, it really p****s me off. But I knew it was gonna happen because Love Island such a like straight show.
‘Some people were like you were lying on the show. I wasn’t lying, I didn’t like any of them!’
Talking about her viral tweet, Amber went on: ‘I think that queer women in relationships just don’t get taken that seriously. I have really felt that and it’s very frustrating.
‘I think I’ve got to be really considered about everything that I say and I’m not. I made tweets, and sometimes I forget it’s going to get picked up on.
‘I said “switching teams was the best thing I ever did” or something stupid like that, I was just being aggy watching Love Island and I just sent it and then it was getting loads of like, traction.
‘And I was like, I probably shouldn’t have said that. It is what it is. But then I was kind of glad because I didn’t have to sit and go, right this is what I’m going to say. I already said it.’
Despite some backlash, Amber added that the reaction to her coming out has been ‘overwhelmingly positive’, with younger people sharing how grateful they are for making them feel more comfortable to tell their friends and family.
Saying that some fans have even messaged her to say they’ve come out because of her, she said: ‘I didn’t know I was that impactful. I get so much satisfaction from just people feeling more comfortable in themselves. And if I can get any help, then I’ll shout it from the rooftop every day.’
Recent seasons of Love Island have seen former bombshells Adam Collard and Kady McDermott return to the villa, but Amber has fully closed the door.
When asked whether she would head back onto the show, she replied: ‘Oh no. Don’t say that. Well it’s a dating show and I’m in a relationship. For me? I went on and I won the show so what more can I do?’
LGBTQ+ show Queerpiphany is back for a third series on MTV UK’s YouTube channel, with Amber’s interview airing at 2pm on Friday.
Love Island is available to watch on ITVX.
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