Her daughter was announced as the winner of this year’s Love Island with her partner Greg O’Shea during Monday’s emotional episode.
And Amber Gill’s mother Vanessa Waugh has gushed the champ ‘went in the villa as a girl and came out a woman’ following her triumphant stint in an exclusive interview with MailOnline.
The recruitment worker, 47, admitted while the beauty therapist, 21, has taken now home the crown, she was left ‘heartbroken’ when she watched Amber’s former partner Michael Griffiths ‘brutally’ dump her earlier in the ITV2 dating series.
Journey: Amber Gill’s mother Vanessa Waugh has gushed the champ ‘went in the villa as a girl and came out a woman’ following her triumphant stint (Amber pictured aged 11)
Vanessa said at her home in Gateshead on Tuesday following her daughter’s win: ‘She went into the villa a girl and came out a woman. It feels a bit surreal, I wanted her to win but I thought Tommy and Molly-Mae would because they’ve been a couple from the very start.
‘I think what did it was that people have seen Amber go on a journey. She went in a girl and she has come out a woman.
‘She has grown up in front of our faces, it’s been extraordinary and at times difficult to watch. It was hard to watch her cry when she was rejected by Michael and feel so helpless and unable to do anything about it.
‘What really makes me proud of her the most is that she’s never put on an act, she was as straight forward and straight talking as she is outside the villa and people seem to have really identified with that.’
Candid: The recruitment worker, 47, was left ‘heartbroken’ when she watched Michael Griffiths ‘brutally’ dump her earlier in the series (Amber pictured with mum Vanessa and dad Leon)
‘He is welcome’: The beauty therapist, 21, was announced as the winner of this year’s Love Island with her partner Greg O’Shea during Monday’s emotional episode
Despite crying tears of joy when she discovered her daughter had won the show, Vanessa admitted she wept for her daughter during her ‘brutal’ dumping by firefighter Michael, 28.
Michael left viewers in fury when snubbed Amber in favour of new girl Joanna Chimonides after she returned from Casa Amor.
The Scouse later admitted to still having feelings for the outspoken beauty, but she chose to pair up with Greg, from Limerick, Ireland, instead.
Vanessa – who shares Amber with her partner Leon, 60, had found it almost unbearable to watch her daughter’s agony.
Her little girl: ‘What really makes me proud of her the most is that she’s never put on an act’ , Vanessa said about her daughter (cheeky Amber pictured aged 2 on holiday)
‘She was dignified’: The doting parent admitted she wept for her daughter during her ‘brutal’ dumping by firefighter Michael, 28, but insists he’s not a ‘nasty guy’
Awkward: He left viewers in fury when snubbed her in favour of new girl Joanna Chimonides after she returned from Casa Amor
She detailed: ‘She found somebody she had a connection with at the beginning, it looked genuine. She was guarded but Michael won her over and she opened up.
‘When she went to Casa Amor and came back to him and to find him with someone else was so hard.
‘Of course like all the other millions of viewers we could see him with that other girl and she knew nothing about that at all. It was brutal, the show, but she handled it like a boss, she was amazing.
‘It was heartbreaking, I did cry, she came back into the villa all smiley faced and looking so happy and then I saw her face change.
‘It was heartbreaking, I did cry, she came back into the villa all smiley faced and looking so happy and then I saw her face change’, the Gateshead native added (pictured with Ovie Soko)
Proud parents: Vanessa shares Amber with her longtime partner and senior estimator Leon, 60
‘All eyes were on her, everyone knew what had happened, there were high ratings just to watch it and for us that was overwhelming to think our daughter was the focus of all that and that she was going to be so upset.
‘After Joanna left the villa Michael started to say he had feelings for her again. He had not been nice to her he was harsh and insensitive to her feelings, he was playing a game.
‘I think people thought she would go back to him and when she picked Greg over him it was so amazing. Leon was celebrating as if he’d scored a hole in one, he punched the air in joy.
‘Day in day out he was messing with her head and saying he still liked her. I was praying she’d stick to her guns and she did, it was a wonderful moment.
‘I know it is a game but he could have handled himself much better, he made Amber feel like it was her fault and it just wasn’t.’
Despite his treatment of Amber, Vanessa has insisted Michael ‘is not a nasty person’: ‘I just don’t think he handled it well, he was a bit harsh and he was insensitive.
‘Leon is quite level headed and was telling me not to overthink things but when people said it was a game show he would say it wasn’t, that these were Amber’s real feelings on show.
‘If she had not been made of stronger stuff it would have been too much for her but she has great coping mechanisms and she drew on them to find strength to get through.
Happy ending: Model Amber burst into tears when she won the series with the Irish rugby player, 24, after her turbulent stint
Delighted: ‘He’s a lovely boy and he’s welcome here any time’, Vanessa enthused about the hunk
‘She’s a fiery girl and she just dealt with it incredibly well. I think I’d have broken down and cried but she’s made of such strong stuff.’
Vanessa revealed that Amber never harboured any hopes of stardom and didn’t apply for Love Island because the show’s producers came to her.
The shy girl who liked to hide at the back of the stage in school plays suddenly found herself thrust in front of 6m viewers and saw her 4,000 Instagram followers leap to 1.8m.
The proud mother explained: ‘I got a lovely message on Instagram the other day from a girl who said she was 27 and wrote “your daughter is an inspiration to me, I am learning from her.”
‘I thought it was a lovely thing to say and it made me realise just how much she has touched people.’
As far as Vanessa and Leon, a senior estimator with an engineering firm, are concerned, Amber’s new love interest, ‘gorgeous’ rugby player Greg, 24, is welcome in their home.
Vanessa said: ‘Greg is absolutely lovely, he is such a nice boy, you can tell he’s genuine, he has high morals, treats her well and is respectful towards her. He’s a lovely boy and he’s welcome here any time.
‘She was single and they contacted her, she got a letter from ITV in January saying they were doing a dating show. I think they had just scrolled through her Instagram.
Hooray! Leon and Vanessa celebrated the win with 50 friends at a party in Newcastle’s Stack venue, which exploded in celebration when the result was announced
Supportive system: In another snap, Vanessa posed with Amber’s BFF Mart Tweedy, who has been managing her social media account since her time in the villa
‘The amazing thing is that she went in with 4,000 followers and now she has 1.8m, it’s all happened so fast but I think now she may have a career in TV ahead of her.
‘Until all this happened she was working in a beauty salon but I think she was ready for a change and I can’t see her going back to that now.
‘Amber was always quite a shy little girl, she never pushed herself forward for the main parts in the school play, she was always happy being at the back, she never really wanted to be in the limelight when she was young.
‘It makes what’s happened all the more surreal and strange, there is no doubt that this had been life changing for her.’
Whirlwind: Amber and Greg were crowned champs after knowing each other for just two weeks
Leon and Vanessa celebrated the win with 50 friends at a party in Newcastle’s Stack venue, which exploded in celebration when the result was announced.
Vanessa said: ‘I cant wait to have her back, I think the only one who has missed her more is her Spaniel, Obi, who has slept on her bed every night she’s been away.
‘I am so proud of Amber, she can be an inspiration to other young girls and I don’t think she will realise how many people’s lives she has touched by being in that series, it’s quite overwhelming.’
