Love Island All Star's Kaz Crossley says she has turned her life around after being locked up in Dubai.
The reality star admitted she had made “a lot of mistakes”, but her troubles were behind her as she returns to the villa - this time in South Africa - to look for love. Kaz was detained at Abu Dhabi airport while in transit to Thailand and spent several nights in a jail cell, due to a leaked video from 2020 which showed her snorting a white substance in Dubai.
Speaking about the incident in a video posted to Instagram, Kaz said the video had been taken in secret by an ex-boyfriend, who had leaked it “maliciously” online with the intent of “ruining my career”.
Speaking to the Mirror, Kaz said: "I really believe like everything happens for a reason and when I went through that, obviously I made a mistake you know your mistakes don't define you. I've just like grown so much from that experience. Everything that I went through... the stress and how long it went on for, it did make me a stronger person. And I'm really proud and happy of the person that I am now and who I have around me and going into the villa feels like it's the perfect timing to be able to show people who I really am.
"I'm looking for a husband. I have the right people around me and I'm going into the villa now to hopefully find a boyfriend. So that's what I'm focused on.
Speaking about the original video, Kaz said: “It was a time of my life where I definitely didn’t love myself at all probably, and this is reflected in what I was doing to my body and who I surrounded myself with.”
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INSTAGRAM)Krossley joined series four of the ITV show as a new contestant when the infamous Casa Amor was introduced. She and fellow contestant Josh Denzel went on to finish in third place in the final behind Anderson and Paul Knops, and Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham.
Since the jailing, Kaz has completely changed her outlook - and her appearance, opting to shave off her once long locks for a great cause.
"Shaving my hair off is one of the best things I've done," she says. "I went through alopecia with my hair falling out.
"Where I live in Manchester I came across a charity called Little Lady Locks and they make wigs for children going through alopecia and cancer and any type of hair loss. So I just got in touch with them and I just thought like, I'm literally living around the corner and I went to their salon and I said I’d love to see what you do and just like maybe help them.
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kazcrossley / Instagram)“I didn't know what they needed kind of thing but basically it costs £500 pounds to make a wig for one of these girls and it it's so expensive because it's such a long process. And their wigs are like amazing quality and a lot of the wigs out there for children they should not be having because they look s***. And that's what cancer patients and children with alopecia get just because they are cheaper.
“So I just started a campaign and I thought, let me try and raise awareness and what I did through my Instagram and my socials was introduced these children and their stories like individually, but then as I did that, I was getting closer to them and I was like, I really wanted to make more money for them. and then I just thought, let me just shave my hair off.
“So I shaved it all off and that was a shock to people. But it's just hair. And then after that I ran a marathon and we ended up raising a lot of money, so we ended up helping like a lot of little girls. So yeah, I've kept it. so I'm going to be I'm going to get my roots done but I've kept it blonde. I'm loving it. I think people love it too because it's just different."
Kaz said she hopes her new look will help her stand out in the new series of the ITV dating show.
"With my new hair and some of the outfits I have planned I'm going to really stand out. I'm excited!" she said ahead of the show.
Love Island All Stars starts Monday, 13th January at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX
English (US) ·