{"id":629465,"date":"2026-10-13T16:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T16:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/629465\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T16:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T16:16:16","slug":"the-many-lives-of-zara-mcdermott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/629465\/","title":{"rendered":"The many lives of Zara McDermott"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the end of a long shoot day when I finally sit down with Zara McDermott. The rails of clothes have done their job, the cameras are down and the Charlotte Simone coat and slingbacks she\u2019s spent part of the afternoon posing in for her Cosmopolitan UK digital cover have been traded for a comfy tracksuit. You might expect her energy to be flagging. Instead, Zara is warm, open and ready to talk.<\/p>\n

\"cosmopolitan<\/p>\n

Sure, she\u2019s three coffees deep, but caffeine alone probably doesn’t explain the pace of her life lately. She\u2019s recently returned from LA, where she has been splitting her time with London, and is nearing the end of filming her latest BBC Three documentary series. Then there are two podcasts, an upcoming appearance on ITV\u2019s Cooking with the Stars and a relationship that’s attracted more than a little attention. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single week is different,\u201d she tells me. \u201cThat\u2019s actually something that I really love about my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The downside is that Zara has become almost impossible to make plans with. When her mum recently asked whether she might join the family on holiday next summer, there was really only one answer: \u201cI genuinely don\u2019t know. I may be somewhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

Coat, Charlotte Simone. Shoes, Kiana Ghavidel. Ring, Pandora. Earrings and Earcuff, Otiumberg. Socks, Calzedonia.<\/p>\n

At this point, that feels less like a scheduling problem than a fairly accurate summary of Zara\u2019s life. At 29, her career spans documentaries, podcasts, entertainment television and the glossy world we’re currently sitting in \u2013 an unusual combination, and one she is well aware doesn’t fit neatly into the box people once put her in.<\/p>\n

Because, of course, the first box was Love Island.<\/p>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

Top and Skirt, Al\u00e9mais. Shoes, Kiana Ghavidel. Earrings, Hugo Kreit at Koibird. Bracelet, Zara\u2019s Own. Socks, Falke.<\/p>\n

From bombshell to broadcaster<\/p>\n

Zara entered the villa as a bombshell during its blockbuster fourth series, the summer of Dani Dyer, Megan Barton-Hanson and Doctor Alex. It was 2018, when appearing on the show could transform a twentysomething into a household name overnight.<\/p>\n

Zara lasted 10 days. Those 10 days have followed her for considerably longer.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t followed the conventional path that someone who comes out of Love Island normally would, and that definitely hasn’t been an easy path to forge,\u201d she says. \u201cI’m a girly girl. I love beauty. I love make-up. I love dressing up. I love pretty outfits and getting glam. But I also think it’s really important to use your voice for something where you can create change and have power.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, she admits, she has felt as though she\u2019s been walking a tightrope between those two versions of herself. \u201cTrying to balance these scales, I found has always been a constant battle of \u2018I always want to be taken seriously in the documentary space, but that doesn’t mean that a woman can’t also be a woman and love the things that she loves.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

Shirt, With Nothing Underneath. Earrings and Earcuff, Otiumberg.<\/p>\n

What frustrates her is the idea that reality television on your CV can somehow determine how seriously you’re taken long after you’ve left it behind. \u201cPeople have a perception that, \u2018Oh well, if she did that, then she can’t be intelligent, or she must be incapable of having a serious conversation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

I haven’t followed the conventional path that someone who comes out of Love Island normally would<\/p>\n

Then she gets to the crux of it. \u201cJust because someone might have taken a fun opportunity at the age of 21, it doesn’t mean they can’t campaign against violence against women when they get a little bit older, or even straight after,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

And Zara has spent much of her twenties doing exactly that.<\/p>\n

Her documentaries have taken her into worlds far removed from the usual reality TV star trajectory. Her first BBC documentary, Revenge Porn, aired in 2021 and began with something painfully personal: Zara had experienced intimate images of herself being shared without her consent. The film expanded beyond her own experience to meet other victims and investigate the devastating impact of image-based abuse.<\/p>\n

What could have been a one-off became the beginning of something. Since then, she has made documentaries about rape culture, eating disorders, stalking and the darker side of some of our favourite holiday destinations. Her current project will be her ninth and will see her working alongside Lancashire Police as they follow a large-scale investigation into intimate image abuse.<\/p>\n

The subjects haven’t become easier to carry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally think empathy is a skill that you learn through your life,\u201d she shares. \u201cIt takes experiencing things, but also seeing other people\u2019s experiences, for you to grow the empathy that you have for others.\u201d If anything, the more stories she hears, the more overwhelming the scale of the problems can feel. \u201cAs you get older, you start to see how much change is needed in this world.\u201d
<\/p>\n

There is an instinct to want to fix things for the women and families she meets, Zara admits, followed by the difficult realisation that she can’t. \u201cSo many times, I just want to do everything I can to help. But the biggest thing I can do is spread the message far and wide.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is conscious, too, of never making somebody else’s trauma about her. \u201cI never want to be self-indulgent and talk about how much that affects me, because the person this affects most is the survivor that I\u2019m speaking to and the family,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to be their voice as much as I can, or their vessel for telling their story.\u201d<\/p>\n

What almost a decade of making documentaries has changed is her perspective. The more people she meets, Zara says, the more aware she becomes of just how much there is to change, and of the limits of what one person can actually do. That perspective inevitably follows her online. When your working day can involve conversations about sexual assault, intimate image abuse and cyber abuse, the casual cruelty of social media starts to look especially bleak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with so many big problems in the day, you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh my gosh, social media, where are we going?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"smiling<\/p>\n

Jumper, Sandro. Bloomers, Lisa the Label. Loafers, G.H. Bass. Rings, Pandora. Bracelet, Zara\u2019s Own. Tights, Swedish Stockings. Bag, Vintage Louis Vuitton at Cocoon Club.<\/p>\n

What particularly frustrates her is the way women are spoken about. She recently came across an article about herself that she felt undermined her by comparing her to her partner, One Direction\u2019s Louis Tomlinson. For Zara, it feeds into a much wider culture of picking women apart; their faces, clothes, bodies, relationships, even something they said five years ago, and one she increasingly wants to see change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see a general culture shift away from the way that we speak about women,\u201d she says. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be undermining women in any way. We don’t do the same for men a lot of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the most serious end of that spectrum is what she describes as an \u201cepidemic\u201d of violence against women. She wants to see more conversations happening much earlier, particularly in schools, around healthy relationships and the attitudes young people are absorbing about women.<\/p>\n

If there is a sense that Zara feels responsible for what she puts into the world, that extends to how she makes the documentaries themselves. Because one assumption she would quite like to retire is that she simply arrives once somebody else has done all the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t just turn up on the day and present,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m as much in the pre-production and development as I am on the ground presenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Often, she says, the idea starts with her. \u201cI\u2019m there from the seedling of the idea. Sometimes I even come up with the seedling of the idea, probably 80% of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She’s now increasingly moving into producing, but don’t expect a Zara McDermott media empire any time soon. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m an entrepreneur,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m a creative.\u201d The distinction feels important to her. Zara is an ideas person: coming up with them, developing them and figuring out the best way to tell a story. The bit she finds trickier? Putting herself first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always so scared of upsetting people,\u201d she admits. But she’s getting better at backing herself, and recognising that having a say in where her ideas end up matters just as much as having them in the first place. \u201cI think it\u2019s important, especially as a woman in this industry, to create a path for yourself and create longevity for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight years after she first appeared on our screens, longevity doesn’t look like much of a problem. And work isn’t the only part of Zara’s life that has changed considerably lately.<\/p>\n

Something Great <\/p>\n

That recent time in LA? Zara has been spending as much of it there as work allows. Louis\u2019 son Freddie is based there, and the singer works hard to co-parent, making California a regular base.<\/p>\n

The couple were first linked in early 2025 and, since then, there have been paparazzi pictures and occasional appearances in Instagram photo dumps, but remarkably little from Zara herself about what their relationship actually looks like. Given Louis\u2019s One Direction fame, successful solo career and fiercely dedicated global fanbase, that hasn’t exactly stopped people being interested.<\/p>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

Shirt, With Nothing Underneath. Shorts, Adidas. Shoes, Jennifer Chamandi. Earrings and Earcuff, Otiumberg. Bracelet, Zara\u2019s Own.<\/p>\n

For now, splitting her life between the US and UK suits her. Her family, friends and work are all here, while LA has become another part of her life. But don’t expect a permanent move Stateside just yet. \u201cI love the balance that we have right now,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful balance of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when she’s back in the UK? It turns out she and Louis are already living together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve lived together for a while now,\u201d she reveals.<\/p>\n

When I ask how cohabiting has been, Zara doesn’t offer up so much as one irritating habit. \u201cHonestly, it\u2019s just been amazing. I genuinely can\u2019t even say one thing,\u201d she says, smiling. \u201cHe\u2019s like my Prince Charming. He\u2019s like my fairy tale.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if you’re waiting for the inevitable \u2018but\u2019, there isn’t one.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is genuinely the most amazing person I\u2019ve ever met in my life,\u201d she continues. \u201cHe\u2019s an inspiration to me in so many ways. He is the most empathetic, considerate, kind person. He will always think about every single other person before himself, and I think that is such a rare quality to find in someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s like my Prince Charming. He\u2019s like my fairy tale.<\/p>\n

Then comes perhaps the most emphatic declaration of all: \u201cIf everyone was a bit more like Louis, the world would be a better place. That\u2019s what I genuinely think.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the first time Zara has spoken at any real length about their relationship \u2013 and there are limits. How they met, for one, is staying firmly theirs. \u201cThat time for us is just so sacred,\u201d she explains. \u201cNo one knows anything about our relationship. No one knows how we met. No one\u2019s even seen us ever have a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

For two people capable of generating headlines simply by being photographed together, maintaining that privacy is quite a feat. Zara knows there is an appetite for more, particularly given the devotion that still surrounds Louis, but she has no interest in turning their relationship into something for public consumption.<\/p>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

Jacket, Maje. Set, PH5. Loafers, G.H.Bass. Socks, Falke.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re obviously not a secret, but we\u2019re not shouting from the rooftops about it,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause that\u2019s actually a beautiful thing to have just for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what they’re keeping for themselves sounds surprisingly – and rather sweetly – ordinary. At home, she says, they’re generally on the sofa, watching television, having tea and biscuits.<\/p>\n

Well, Louis has the tea. Zara doesn’t drink it. Dating a Yorkshireman has nevertheless required her to master the surprisingly exact science of making one. Her previous technique, inherited from her parents, was essentially to introduce a teabag to some hot water and hope for the best. Louis was having none of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, Zara. You\u2019ve not let it brew, babe. You\u2019ve not let it brew.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tomlinson method? Yorkshire Tea. Water first. Two minutes. No shortcuts. \u201cI literally time it for two minutes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She’s now so committed that she travels with Yorkshire teabags, something she used to laugh at her mum for doing. Forget the grand declarations: if learning someone’s precise tea-brewing specifications isn’t romance, what is?<\/p>\n

Of course, dating someone with Louis’s level of fame means their relationship comes with an audience. Every appearance together attracts attention and, with a fanbase that has been invested in him for well over a decade, Zara knew there would be scrutiny. Experiencing the sheer scale of it first-hand, though, has taken some getting used to, something she called an \u201cadjustment period\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that Lou was going to have a huge fan base, and his fan base are so protective and loving and supportive of him in every way,\u201d she admits. \u201cI understand their protectiveness. It\u2019s like a fierce loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s a relationship between artist and fans that long predates her, and one Zara is careful not to dismiss. She talks about the love between Louis and his fans as something reciprocal; becoming his partner, she shares, has meant learning to take \u201cthe good and the bad\u201d that comes with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s not challenging at times,\u201d she explains. \u201cOf course it comes with its challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

And perhaps that’s why those evenings on the sofa \u2013 tea brewed for exactly two minutes \u2013 matter. In a relationship where even the smallest public glimpse can invite attention, Zara has become deliberate about what remains theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why we don\u2019t speak hugely about our relationship,\u201d she adds. \u201cOtherwise you open yourself up even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"model<\/p>\n

Top and Skirt, Al\u00e9mais. Earrings, Hugo Kreit at Koibird. Socks, Falke. Bag, Vintage Miu Miu at Cocoon Club.<\/p>\n

There is something interesting about hearing this from someone whose adult life has largely played out in public. Zara knows what it is to have strangers invested in who you’re dating, what you’re wearing and what you’re doing next. It\u2019s been a process of feeling out what her boundaries are. <\/p>\n

In fact, while she\u2019s protective of her relationship, being open to life and saying yes has been something of a family philosophy. Her dad raised Zara and her brother with one piece of advice: \u201cYou\u2019ll only regret the things you say no to.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has stuck. \u201cYou never know where it could lead you,\u201d she says. And looking at the slightly unexpected shape of her career so far, she has a point. Zara has rarely seemed particularly interested in staying in one lane \u2013 perhaps that\u2019s why she\u2019s quite content not to have her future all mapped out. <\/p>\n

The big 3-0<\/p>\n

With her 30th birthday two months away, you’d forgive Zara for having at least the beginnings of a five-year plan. She does not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been thinking about how much pressure that puts on me. If I\u2019d looked at myself five years ago, I\u2019d never have predicted where I would be in my career, or what I\u2019d be doing, or that I would be nine documentaries deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

For someone with quite so much going on, she’s refreshingly relaxed about not knowing what comes next. \u201cYou never know what\u2019s around the corner. I think there\u2019s something so beautiful about not planning too much and just seeing what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"zara<\/p>\n

Coat, Charlotte Simone. Shoes, Kiana Ghavidel. Ring, Pandora. Earrings and Earcuff, Otiumberg. Socks, Calzedonia.<\/p>\n

There is one thing she has become more intentional about, though: how she talks to herself. Zara admits she used to struggle with her self-worth and self-belief. Now, if she catches herself having one of those days in front of the mirror, she has a word.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019d looked at myself five years ago, I\u2019d never have predicted where I would be in my career<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Shut up, Zara. Don\u2019t be like that to yourself. You look lovely,\u2019\u201d she tells herself. \u201c\u2018Actually, is it really that important what you look like today? No, it\u2019s not. Move on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Louis apparently tells her she sometimes lives in \u201ca world of rainbows and unicorns\u201d. \u201cI love that for me,\u201d she smiles. \u201cSometimes I\u2019m so positive it\u2019s actually to my own detriment.\u201d Honestly, there are worse places to live.<\/p>\n

So, if she could give her younger self one piece of advice now? \u201cDon\u2019t ever doubt your own abilities,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d probably tell myself to be a bit more positive when I was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

And maybe that’s the biggest difference between the Zara of then and the one sitting opposite me now. Not a perfectly mapped-out career or knowing exactly what the next five years will look like, but trusting herself enough not to need to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes with age,\u201d she says. Then she adds one more thing: \u201cAnd self-security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty seems like a pretty good age to take that with you.<\/p>\n

Cooking With The Stars, featuring Zara McDermott, airs on ITV and ITVX on Mondays at 7.30pm<\/p>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

Jumper, Sandro. Bloomers, Lisa the Label. Loafers, G.H. Bass. Rings, Pandora. Bracelet, Zara\u2019s Own. Tights, Swedish Stockings.<\/p>\n

Want the chance to win a Charlotte Simone coat? Sign up to Club Cosmo \u2013 for free \u2013 and enter now!<\/a><\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

Photography: Matt Moorhouse<\/a>; Interview: Lisa McLoughlin<\/a>; Stylist: Angel Cordova-Todd<\/a>; Make up Artist: Charlie Fitzjohn<\/a> using Lisa Eldrige Beauty; Hair Stylist: Jason Goh<\/a> using Living Proof UK; Art Director: Alex Hambis<\/a>; Editor in Chief: Claire Hodgson<\/a>; Deputy Editor: Jess Edwards<\/a>; Entertainment Editor: Alicia Lansom<\/a>; Movement Director: Liam Hill<\/a>; Lighting Assistant: Dominic Walsh<\/a>; Digi Op: Igor Hill<\/a>; Video Lead: Annabel Fraser<\/a>; DOP: Cailum Khan<\/a>; Production: Beverley Croucher<\/a>
<\/p>\n