Faye Winter wants to be 'best version of herself' before dating again
Faye Winter has revealed she wants to be the "best version of herself" and is in no rush to start dating again following her split from Teddy Soares earlier this year.
The former Love Islander, 28, is busy focusing on building her own empire with adorable pet dog, Bonnie, and is in an "amazing, confident" stage of her life, calling it her "selfish era". Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Faye, who has been working hard to raise vital funds for Guide Dogs, said: "I'm in such an amazing, confident place in my life.
"I get to do what I want to do and I know that sounds so selfish, and I am calling it my selfish era, I think through being myself and being selfish I'm actually doing really amazing things with amazing charities and every downfall I've had I've tried to use it as a positive."
And as such, Faye is in no rush to start dating again as she wants to be the "best version" of herself and achieve all her goals. The bubbly TV star said: "Since my last relationship, I can handle my heart so I've not been on a single date. I don't want to go on a date. There will come a time where I want to do that but I want to be the best version of myself and know that I've taken time to set myself goals and achieve them.
"That people know me for me and what I love, not what I'm like in a relationship or you know what I'm like when I've got a partner. I have my own personality, I have my own goals and I have my own life and I really want to focus on it. I think it's really important. I'm 28 now, I'm not 23, 24, and some people say 'time is ticking' but I am not even thinking about it.
Love Island's Haris spills on unaired row between Zara and Tanyel"I want to be with somebody when I'm the best version of me, right? So I'm just waiting for that time and if it comes it comes if it doesn't, I'm going to carry on being a b****y good dog mum. I've discovered that us women we do not need men. We do not need them, we should just want them, we should just want them because they add value to our lives not because we feel like they complete us or that we're on a ticking timeframe to find someone."
Sharing an empowering message, Faye added: "You're not on a time frame, you don't need to be married by 24 or 28 or 30... 30 is not our cut off point! You build your own empire and that is just the way and your empire doesn't need to be materialistic things. You need to build what you want and you love!"
Faye is currently busy being a dog mum to adorable Bonnie, who turned one over the summer. Talking about how special Bonnie is, Faye sweetly said: "I could cry every time [talking about the past year with Bonnie], as it says on my top 'busy raising my dog'. I think for me, Bonnie hitting one and then hitting the milestone of having her in my life for a year, it was crazy because of how far I've come in that year and she's been by my side every single step of the way.
"She is my one constant in this world. I see her every day. I have conversations with her, as long as she's okay, I'm okay, and it's also given me a massive different perspective on life that actually I am sole carer for something else. I think I have found my calling in life and it is to be a dog mum."
Faye is also busy working with Guide Dogs and raising vital funds for the important charity. Only recently, the TV personality attempted a mud filled assault course whilst being "encouraged" round by a former SAS soldier, Faye was also covered in snakes and creepy crawlies, as well as cooking under the watchful eye of a Michelin-starred chef, all in order to raise money for Guide Dogs.
Talking about the challenge, Faye said: "It was something completely different and outside of my comfort zone compared to what obviously I'm used to doing with the Guide Dogs. I'm here to raise awareness, I'm trying to get people to volunteer their time. I know we're in a cost of living crisis, I know a lot of people don't have spare money to be able to donate but obviously, when it comes to charity, obviously a massive part of it is fundraising because for these charities that's the only way they survive.
"So obviously my main priority is always to try and get volunteers and to give your time and your effort to these charities where you can, but actually, when the opportunity came to me of we want to do some fundraising and we're going to do some challenges. I was like, I've never done anything like it. Obviously I've done [Celebrity] MasterChef, which was so challenging, but to then be able to do something completely different. I was like: 'Yeah, I'm really up for it!'"
Raising awareness on her platform is important to Faye, who has always wanted to do good with her platform since finding fame on Love Island back in 2021. She said: "I was given a platform to be able to reach a lot of amazing people that follow my journey. I think for me, why do I have the platform if I'm not using it for good? It doesn't make sense to me.
"I always said coming out of the villa, like even if I won the money on Love Island and had come first, I was always going to donate it to the Guide Dogs. I always wanted to do good. The whole thing of me going in was to do good. If you've got an amazing platform, why not use it for amazing things, right?"
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