Phoebe And Chad Reflect On Their Love Island Connection And Death Threats

Phoebe, you've been the subject of quite a lot of criticism online. What's your response to that now that you're getting your footing outside of the villa?

Phoebe: I respect and appreciate this show as well as this niche of television, and I was a polarizing character within the villa. I did what you're supposed to do when you go on "Love Island." If one connection doesn't work out, you look at the options and you [think], "Maybe this will work out," "Maybe let me try this," "Let me try that." In the end, if you don't find something, at least I was content and at peace with the fact that I tried.

There were times [when] I was in the villa and I was everyone's friend, but it's not fun being in the villa when you're everyone's friend. [In] certain situations, I was like, "Let me keep putting myself out there." And with every part of my journey, I kept learning more and more and more about myself, which eventually was the reason I felt my best self when I got my connection with Chad. And now [in] the outside world, [I get] to be my best self and continu[e] on.

With the death threats and the quantity of death threats that I've received and the nasty comments, the articles written about me saying that I have the energy of a mean girl, and I'm not a girl's girl, all [my] actions, this and that — everyone's entitled to their opinion, and everyone's perception is their reality. What is so different is that people at home are watching five seconds of my conversation [or] five minutes of my conversation. Meanwhile, they're neglecting to understand that I'm in there 24 hours [a day] talking, having these conversations that last an hour to an hour and a half, or 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 10 minutes, and they're only seeing so little.

To jump to such assumptions about my character and to attack my character when I pride myself on being a girl's girl and a compassionate friend ... I'm a women's studies minor. I'm a hardcore feminist. I think that it's been taken out of context and really spun around. Out of all the comments that have been thrown at me and everything that has happened, the worst one is "You deserve everything that's coming for you. You deserve what people are saying about you. You deserve all of this." When you're reading that — I'm getting death threats here, death threats there, whatever — but when you hear you deserve—

It changes the narrative, for sure.

Phoebe: It changes the narrative. Now every time I read a death threat, it's "[You] deserve to kill [your]self. [You] deserve to choke and die. [You] deserve to never be loved."