Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

Love Island breast op ads put girls ‘under pressure’

Ladies smash it… with help of Love Island

- BY BEN GLAZE Deputy Poltical Editor

BREAST enlargemen­t adverts during Love Island are fuelling a crisis in young people’s mental health, the boss of the NHS said.

Simon Stevens blamed ads on the hit ITV2 show for putting pressure on youngsters over body image.

He said: “If you look at the increasing pressures on young people around eating disorder services, we have to think about the whole environmen­t which children are being exposed to. Some of it is social media, but even if you take a show like Love Island – look at the adverts being shown.

“You’ve got explicit ads aiming at young women around breast – cosmetic – surgery.

That’s all playing into a set of pressures around body image that are showing up.”

Speaking on BBC1’S

Andrew Marr Show, he added: “The time has come to think about whether we should be exposing young people to those kinds of pressures.

“Social media and advertisin­g has got to look carefully at the kinds of impacts it is having.”

Toni Giugliano, of the Mental Health Foundation, tweeted: “Programmes like Love Island & advertisin­g on body image creating pressures & distress..”

is dwarfed by his spending. He bought a huge art collection and had homes in Zurich, Mallorca and the US, boasting of drinking fine wines as he jetted between them.

As his tennis rival and friend Pat Cash noted: “Boris has always felt the need to maintain an image linked with prosperity.”

Christian added: “When Boris goes out for lunch he spends £800, for dinner he spends £1,000.

“When he goes on holiday he flies first class or business class with the whole family. That’s ok when you earn £10million a year, like he did as a player. But when you earn £500,000 you run out of money very quickly.”

Becker’s love life has proved equally expensive. His first marriage to actress Barbara, with whom he had sons Noah and Elias, ended acrimoniou­sly after he admitted cheating while she was pregnant. A divorce in 2001 cost him £15million plus monthly support payments.

The price of his infidelity rose even further when he discovered he had a daughter, Anna, as a result of a three-minute romp with Russian model Angela Ermakova in a broom cupboard at a restaurant.

Supporting youngest son Amadeus following his split from Dutch-born Lilly will stretch his already fragile finances even further.

Christian said: “It is very sad. For a long time Boris and Lilly were a good couple. A strong couple.” Becker has been in a downward spiral for nearly 20 years. Keen to repeat his sporting success as a businessma­n, he initially invested in three Mercedes dealership­s. But he lost his two closest advisers in the mid-1990s – one to bad blood, the other to cancer. Without their guidance he embarked on a string of failed deals. He reportedly lost £10million investing in Nigerian oil and gas, launched a tennis academy in China and tried to build a Boris Becker business tower in Dubai before the plans collapsed in 2011.

Christian said: “Boris was not a great businessma­n. He wasn’t focused on his deals, he didn’t look behind the scenes. He had bad managers who gave him bad tips.” Among all his other troubles Becker was accused in 2001 of tax evasion in Germany for living in Munich while claiming Monaco as his home. A year later he was hit with a suspended sentence and told to repay £2.5million.

In 2014 he was lent £1.75million by Phones4u billionair­e John Cauldwell to clear unpaid maintenanc­e bills on a Mallorca villa.

The property was later taken over by hippy squatters and the debt rose to £3.5million.

A private bank took Becker to court in London, where a judge declared him bankrupt and said he was “burying his head in the sand”.

Two weeks later the star was back before the bench, this time in Switzerlan­d, as former business partner Hans-dieter Cleven tried to claw back £32million he claimed to have lent him for a joint venture.

The court rejected Cleven’s claims, ordered him to pay costs and ruled in Becker’s favour.

But at the same time a £65,000 Maserati loaned to the ex-tennis ace by a dealership was towed away because of a string of unpaid parking fines.

Becker allegedly owes another £10million to companies in Switzerlan­d and Spain.

Christian said: “Boris tries to make his own rules – that is not possible.

“You have to pay your taxes and your parking fines, you have to pay back the money you borrow from the bank or your friends. “He’s not a bad guy but he has the wrong people around him. He needs to focus on his job, calm down and stop spending money.

“He is a strong person, that is why he was such a great player. I think he is strong enough to solve these problems as well – but they are the biggest problems of his life.” ANDY Murray’s withdrawal from Wimbledon will mean Britain’s next generation of female stars grabbing more attention this week.

But the five women, aged 23 and under, share one of the ways the two-time champion found to escape the pressure – Love Island.

The youngest, Katie Swan, 19, has joined Andy Murray’s management firm and says the Scottish player is a secret fan.

She said: “I haven’t spoken to him about tennis – we have just spoken about Love Island. He is watching it as well.

“He says that he doesn’t but he’s definitely a fan. He told me he just pops his head around the corner when his wife is watching it but I don’t think that’s true.

“You can’t know what he knows by just watching a bit – he definitely knows everything that’s going on. He knows all the names.”

On the eve of the tournament Murray, 31, said it was “too soon” to play five-set matches after his comeback from hip surgery.

So Katie will be out to make British fans proud, along with Harriet Dart, 21, Gabriella Taylor, 20, Katy Dunne, 23, and Katie

Boulter, 21. Apart from Leicester City fan Katie Boulter, they are all making their debut.

And Katy Dunne is another one addicted to Love Island: “It helps when you’ve got friends there and people that you can chat to or hang out with, have dinner with. And we are all loving Love Island right now. It’s so good,” she admitted. I don’t think there is a tennis player not watching it.

“It’s kind of the perfect thing.

“We’re working hard in the day or dealing with stuff and matches and pressure. That’s the least focusing TV show that you can watch and it’s also just funny.”

The girls might not want to predict a Wimbledon winner but Katie Swan says Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, are nailed on to take the Love Island title.

 ??  ?? IMPACT One of the adverts shown during show
IMPACT One of the adverts shown during show
 ??  ?? CONCERN Stevens
CONCERN Stevens
 ??  ?? Boris with first missus Barbara in 1993 and model Angela Ermakova Gabriellat­aylor Katy Dunne
Boris with first missus Barbara in 1993 and model Angela Ermakova Gabriellat­aylor Katy Dunne
 ??  ?? Boris now and winning Wimbo in 1985
Boris now and winning Wimbo in 1985
 ??  ?? Katy and Gabriella
Katy and Gabriella
 ??  ?? With Noah and Elias
With Noah and Elias
 ??  ?? Katie Swan
Katie Swan
 ??  ?? Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, right
Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, right
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom