Former Love Island star Shaughna Phillips opens up exclusively to OK! on life as a single mum and her decision to take daughter Lucia to visit her dad in jail
WORDS: EVE MACDONALD PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID CUMMINGS
BABY LOVE
She’s best known for her appearance on Love Island in 2020, but Shaughna Phillips’ resilience, strength and zest for life are what should really be making headlines.
In her first interview since she revealed she takes baby daughter Lucia to visit her dad Billy in prison, the 29-year-old exclusively opens up to OK! about the joys of motherhood, but also the emotional turmoil of being forced to raise Lucia on her own and how she’s had to battle through some of the lowest points in her life.
“This is not something I expected to be doing. I never would have chosen this life for my daughter,” Shaughna candidly tells us.
A year ago, the Essex-born star’s world came crashing down around her when her boyfriend Billy Webb was arrested in a drugs raid, and last November he was sentenced to nine years in jail after admitting conspiracy to supply 4.5kg of cocaine worth at least £360,000.
Shaughna, who had no knowledge of the illegal activity, was 30 weeks pregnant when she received the news. But in a bid to ensure her daughter has a relationship with her dad, the former democratic services officer takes Lucia to visit Billy once a week in prison.
“It’s not a decision I made lightly and I won’t lie, the first time I took her was really scary and daunting,” she says. “I don’t think it hit me what was happening until I got into the building. I was so nervous but it was never a question for me. I always knew I was going to take Lucia to visit her dad.
“Although it’s the last place on earth I’d hope to take a baby, I just felt like I owed it to her. Billy’s obviously missed out on a lot in her life due to his actions but I was never going to stand in the way of him being a dad.”
The thought of Lucia not meeting her dad was something that played on Shaughna’s mind, especially as she lost her own dad, Eddie, when she was 22.
“The bond Lucia has with her dad is just as important as the one she has with me,” she explains. “I had the best dad growing up, but I know what it’s like not to have a dad there. I would never want Billy to be a stranger to her.”
Lucia, who turns one on 4 April, will be 16 months old
