Love Island’s Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu credits new man Curtis Pritchard with making her "the best version" of herself - as she sends a very telling message to her ex Davide Sanclimenti
Love Island’s Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has issued an olive branch to her ex Davide Sanclimenti, just days after her new man Curtis Pritchard threw down the gauntlet to him in a now viral video.
Curtis, 29, made headlines earlier this week after he was spotted making a dig at Davide during an interview with Boxing Buzz Hub on TikTok.
Asked who he would like to “call out” - or rather, fight in the ring - he raised eyebrows from fans by immediately naming his girlfriend’s Love Island ex.
He said: “Maybe Davide, which is Ekin’s ex. Because I know that he never treated her well, so that would be an interesting one.”
His comments came after both Ekin-Su and Davide, both 30, made a series of allegations about their ‘toxic’ relationship after their acrimonious split. Both sides made claims about the other while denying the allegations against them, in what was a messy end to an 18-month on-off romance.
But despite Curtis’s very public dig at Davide and her vowing to for ever keep some aspects of their split quiet, Ekin-Su has now taken the first step towards thawing relations with her famous ex.
For in a new interview released today she admitted she had heard about Davide’s new relationship and “wishes him well”.
“[There’s] stuff that [happened] I've not spoken about. And he [Davide] knows. He knows, but it will always stay like that,” she said. “And I do wish him well. I genuinely wish him well. He's got a girlfriend now, from what I've heard, he's in LA living his life, and he deserves happiness too.”
She added: “We had a relationship that was in the past, wonderful memories. I always treasure them, but I'm happy [now] too. And it isn’t that nice when exes move on and find people that they can be happy with?”
Davide’s new love is mum-of-two Iris Au, who he met through a mutual friend at a group dinner last May, four months after his final split with Ekin-Su. They began dating shortly afterwards but kept the details of their romance low key until giving their first joint interview last week.
Fortunately Ekin-Su is still smitten with her new man Curtis - who she claims helps her be the very “best version” of herself.
Indeed, the Dancing on Ice star is so keen, she isn’t ruling out any future wedding bells - despite leaving the villa just a few weeks ago.
Although it’s not quite as romantic with the way she put it. “I'm a lover girl, so I need to relax,” she said. “You know, if someone is the one, and you feel like that is your person, then, yeah, what's the worst that can happen? You're gonna get divorced. You're not gonna die are you?”
It’s a sentiment that needs a little work, if she’s planning on using it in her vows. But she is insistent things are going strong with the former Dancing With Stars (Ireland) pro.
“I feel like you can definitely still fall in love more than once, more than twice. I have six times!,” she told Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast, out today. I love how I feel when I'm in love as well. I've been in love six times, right? And the six men that have been in my life have all made me feel different way.
“But I noticed right now I'm the best version of myself, which means I'm in a healthy relationship. When you love yourself, you can love someone and give them 100% of yourself. So, I feel like different people bring out different sides of you. It's just how I've seen it.”
Asked about why she thought she was currently her “best version”, she added: “Do you know how I know? It's when you know that you're not walking on eggshells every morning, and you know that you can just be this thing, that you are this quirkiness without feeling judged, or without feeling like you have to be something else that you're not, I just feel me, and I couldn't care what anyone thinks
“And that's when you know and you feel happy every single day, even when things go wrong, you're like, you know what? I'm still happy. I've not felt that in years. When you've been hurt and broken, you can't trust again, so it takes time.”
And Ekin-Su added that she and Curtis, who guest-starred on Hollyoaks with brother AJ, have an uncanny amount in common.
Everything is very similar,’ she told Jamie. “The way we think is very similar, the way we act is very similar, the way we bounce off each other's humour. It's weird. I don't feel judged by Curtis. You know, sometimes you feel a bit judged by your partner when you say things, he hypes me up all the time. I just find him really attractive as well. I don't know what it is.”
It perhaps explains why she got quite so raunchy in the heart rate challenge round the villa’s fire pit before coming third on the recent All Stars series. “Listen, I'm a very passionate woman, and if no one was on that fire pit, if there was no cameras, I would have done a Fifty Shades of Grey scene!,” she laughed. I live in the moment. I let my hair down. I don't care. I'm having fun. It's who I am. I'll do it in private too. You know.”
