‘Love Island USA' star reveals ‘extremely abusive' childhood: ‘I did not want to live anymore'
Huda Mustafa, 24, star of 'Love Island USA' Season 7 has revealed that she had an 'extremely abusive' childhood.
During a recent appearance on the podcast, 'Call Her Daddy,' she said, '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. And, you know, we weren't fortunate as kids.'
She explained that she was one of five siblings, and her family financially struggled.
'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. And growing up, my dad was extremely abusive. He was very abusive towards my mother, towards me and my siblings.'
6 Huda Mustafa on the 'Call her Daddy' podcast.
Call Her Daddy/Youtube
6 Jeremiah Brown and Huda Mustafa on 'Love Island USA.'
Kim Nunneley/Peacock via Getty Images
Mustafa explained that her parents separated when she was in fourth grade, and she hasn't spoken to her father since she was sixteen.
'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–t out of my mom in the room,' she said.
She also said that she was bullied at school, to the point where she had suicidal thoughts.
'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,' she revealed.
6 'Love Island USA' stars Belle Walker, Olandria Carthen, Michelle Chelley, Bissainthe, Yulissa Escobar, and Huda Mustafa (right).
Ben Symons/Peacock
6 Huda Mustafa on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast.
Call Her Daddy/Youtube
Mustafa explained that because of those early experiences, while she was on 'Love Island USA,' there were 'a lot of things that triggered me in that villa. 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.'
Mustafa came in third place with her partner, Chris Seely, during the Season 7 finale – before they ultimately parted ways as friends and she left single.
Season 7 of 'Love Island USA' had a lot of drama, with multiple cast members such as Cierra Ortega getting removed from the show after past racist social media posts resurfaced.
6 Huda Mustafa on 'Love Island USA.'
Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images
6 Huda Mustafa on 'Love Island USA.'
Ben Symons/Peacock
Mustafa, who is the mother of a 4 year old daughter, also revealed, 'I didn't have my first kiss until after high school. I didn't have sex until after high school.'
After she found out she was pregnant she revealed she didn't tell her mother for a few months.
'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.'
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2 hours ago
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The Tonies figures themselves typically range from $9.99 to $19.99. The third-gen Yoto Player can be yours for $99.99 from the Yoto website and comes with a Welcome Card for overwriting with your own recorded audio. It only comes in a dual white and gray color, though jackets in varying shades are available for an additional $20 when bought together. There's a bit more variance in how much Yoto cards cost, with the cheapest cards starting from around $4 and rising to around $14.99 for more popular compendiums. The Toniebox is the slightly bigger box, which features a tactile, squidgy cube design with a plastic, magnetized top to help secure figurines, LED status square, and asymmetric rubber ears serving as the volume buttons. It's clearly built for some rough and tumble, which I tested immediately when I accidentally dropped it, emerging completely unscathed. You wouldn't want to drop the Yoto Player — its chunkier, all-plastic design feels more fragile. It's got a clean, retro alarm clock look to it, with orange dials on the top corners for volume and track selection, and a card slot on the top. Its key feature is its display, which doesn't play video but pixelated stills — seeing fan favorites like Elmo and Paddington brought to life in vibrant mosaic style is genuinely charming. On the rear is a wedge design for tilting and an integrated nightlight. The Toniebox integrates a minimalist control setup, perfect for smaller kids. Simply place a figurine on the top, and it'll start playing. You're supposed to tap the sides to skip a track or repeat the previous, though it requires a fairly firm tap to acknowledge your input. I tried teaching the technique to my daughter, and while it took a few goes, we eventually got the hang of it. You can also tilt the box to fast forward and rewind. The Yoto Player offers a greater level of control but needs more nuanced inputs. 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I stuck on Moana: The Songs, and its mid-range notes filled the room with crisp lucidity. Both players work similarly, involving a concealed NFC chip in a figurine or card. Once placed or inserted, the player can determine if the media tied to the chip needs to be downloaded, played from local memory, or streamed via Wi-Fi. With the Toniebox, an attractive prospect for kids is collecting the figurines, particularly the licensed models. Queen Elsa and Moana came with my sample pack, and both models represent excellent detail and quality and near-perfect representations of their big screen counterparts. A word of warning though — keep these figures safe, as if they're lost in a toy box or go walkabout, you won't be able to play that media again. 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