Love Island USA’s Huda Recalls ‘Extremely Abusive’ Childhood in Revealing New Interview

Huda Mustafa is opening up about her challenging upbringing.

The 24-year-old is fresh off Love Island USA season 7, where she spent two months in a Fiji villa exploring romantic connections. She came in third place during the July 13 season finale with her partner Chris Seeley.

The pair had closed things off romantically and decided to just be friends the day before the finale, leaving Huda single as she left the villa.

Days after the season ended, Huda appeared on the podcast, Call Her Daddy, where she reflected on her time in the villa and revealed new details about her early life.

Huda grew up with an “extremely abusive” father.

“My parents, they immigrated to America and got their citizenship, and my dad, he had his own business. And my mother, she was a teacher,” Huda told host Alex Cooper. “And, you know, we weren’t fortunate as kids.”

She was one of five siblings and said she “wasn’t raised with money.”

“We played with sticks outside. We didn’t have phones till we were like 16, 17. Like, I’m not a privileged child. I was never that,” she said. “And growing up, my dad was extremely abusive. He was very abusive towards my mother, towards me and my siblings.”

“A vivid memory I have as a kid is like, I don’t even know how old I was, but I remember hearing my dad beating the s— out of my mom in the room,” Huda continued.

She shared that her parents separated when she was in fourth grade and she has not spoken to her father in eight years.

School was not an escape for her, either, as she said she was bullied to the point that she became suicidal.

Outside of the house, Huda said she “was unapologetically myself and that didn’t resonate with a lot of people,” so she “always got bullied in school.”

Those early experiences made it so there were “a lot of things that triggered me in that villa,” Huda said. “Things that I caught and was clocking and was told that I was being crazy. But I don’t know if anything was done on purpose to make me act out in a way.”

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Returning to the topic of her childhood, Huda continued, “When I was in middle school, there was a point where I wanted to take my own life. I did not want to live anymore.”

Eating disorders were another challenge for her in her younger years as she struggled with her body image.

One particular instance she recalled was when a “new girl,” who was a model, would “rub it in my face,” because Huda “wanted to model so bad growing up.”

“[The girl] would be like, ‘Oh, you’re not even pretty enough to be [a model], you’re not skinny enough, you’re not this.'”

The comments led Huda to stop “eating for days at a time,” she revealed. “I would never eat anything. I was bulimic. Like, I would literally chew food and then spit it into a trash can just to taste it because I thought I wasn’t skinny enough.”

Throughout the interview, she opened up about more of her personal life, including her past dating experience, which she said started after she turned 18. 

“I didn’t have my first kiss until after high school. I didn’t have sex until after high school,” she shared.

Huda, who has a 4-year-old daughter, detailed how she learned she was pregnant and revealed that she kept it a secret for months.

“I actually kept it from my mom for three or four months,” she said, noting that she had moved back in with her mom at the time. “I kept it from everybody for three or four months. I didn’t know how to do this at all. I didn’t even know I was supposed to go to the doctors.” 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, The Alliance for Eating Disorders provides a fully-staffed helpline at 1-866-662-1235, as well as free, therapist-led support groups.