When she hit our screens marrying a stranger on last year’s Married At First Sight UK, Sophie Brown had hoped to meet the love of her life. Sadly, her marriage didn’t work out, and she’s also struggled with the cruel side of fame and has been the victim of nasty body shaming.
Sophie – who married carpenter Johnathan Wileman on the show – was left devastated when cruel trolls tore into her and commented on her weight after she was papped out in Manchester.
My heart dropped when I saw the pictures and the comments,” she explains. “The pictures are really unflattering, they were taken on a long lens. But it doesn’t really matter whether the pictures are nice or not, it doesn’t mean people can say what they want because it’s anonymous. I can’t believe people are still talking about women’s bodies and weight.”
Sophie was out with MAFS co-star Adrian Sanderson when a pap asked if he could take their photo. “It was a bit of fun and I really didn’t think they’d go anywhere,” she says. But Sophie was horrified when she saw the pictures the following day on a popular news website and realised there were nasty comments about her weight.
“They were really horrible. A few people called me a whale, one said, ‘It looks like she ate Sophie’. I know I’ve put on a bit of weight since the show, but who cares? Not everything should be about the way you look. It crushed my confidence.”
Sophie says that while she has gained weight since filming wrapped last year, she stuck to a strict regime before the show that wasn’t sustainable.
“Before we started filming last year, I was smashing the gym, seeing a personal trainer twice a week and dieting a lot. I knew that I’d put on weight after as that’s not sustainable in day-to-day life.”
Sophie says the body image narrative has followed her around since appearing on MAFS. During the series, her then-husband Johnathan told her that he didn’t like women to have ‘big horse legs’ or put on a lot of weight, which sparked controversy among the contestants and the public at the time.
“Unfortunately, comments were made on the show about the way women should look and it changed my narrative to be about body image and weight and what I look like, and I never wanted that,” she explains. “But suddenly I was caught up in it because my ex-husband made comments. I’m trying to pursue things in my career and do good, but I’m brought back to it a lot.”
Luckily, Sophie has had incredible support from her friends, family and MAFS co-stars.
“We keep in touch and some of them contacted me to check in after they saw the comments,” she smiles. “I’ve made some great pals off the back of the show. Adrian and I both live in Manchester so we see each other all the time, I’m close with Chanita [Stephenson], Zoe [Clifton] and Jenna [Robinson]. I don’t think people realise how valuable those friendships are afterwards. I’ve got some amazing friends and my family that support me, but to have people who have been through the same things has really helped.”
And Sophie says that while her marriage didn’t work out, she put her all into the experience and had high hopes she’d meet The One.
“My process started in October 2021 so there was so much time before the wedding [in April 2022] where I was in the headspace of, ‘I’m going to meet someone’. I put all my hopes into it and did so many questionnaires and psychologist’s questions that I just thought this was going to be it. Going into the wedding, my friends and family were so supportive. It felt so real, wearing the dress, my dad walking me down the aisle. The wedding was really amazing, we got on so well – I was really hopeful on that day. You spend 24/7 with your partner, you have a wedding day, go on holiday together and you give up so much of your life, so you want to make it work.”
But while she’s been single since she and Johnathan ended things shortly after the show, Sophie says she’s ready to date again.
“I’m the most single I’ve ever been at the moment,” she laughs.
“I think I’m holding myself back a little bit because the show is such a huge thing to do. Dating just feels like a weird thing to navigate now. But I want to have a fun summer, go on a few dates and put myself out there. I’m not putting pressure on it. If the right person comes along, then great, but I think you’ve got to date different people to work out what you want.”