NEED TO KNOW
Does Love Island USA fan-favorite Huda Mustafa have a new love in her life?
The 24-year-old season 7 alum stepped out with fellow reality TV star Louis Russell in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 31, sparking speculation that they’re romantically involved.
Huda and Louis attended the Weapons premiere together — alongside stars, including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner — and posed for photos on the red carpet while holding hands.
While this date night was more public, it’s not the first time Huda has been seen with the Too Hot to Handle alum. Days after returning to L.A. from Fiji after the July 13 finale, they were seen at the Grove together and appeared to be holding hands, according to photos that circulated online.
Speculation about a new romance for Huda comes after she left the Love Island villa single.
The 24-year-old single mom had an eventful experience during her weeks in the Fiji villa, starting with a head-first romance with Jeremiah Brown, which ended as dramatically as it started.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
She then found a connection in Casa Amor, first with JD and then with Chris, whom she coupled up with and brought back to the villa.
Chris and Huda’s relationship fizzled out in the finale episode as they decided, while on their final date, to break up.
“I think we should just be friends,” Huda told the basketball player, who said he “already knew” that was coming.
She offered that they could still “hang out” platonically, but Chris wasn’t on board. “I’m gonna be honest with you, no,” he said when she asked about staying friends. “But will I have any hatred toward you? No. But I need to not like you anymore, so that means I need to separate myself a little bit, I’m going to.”
After leaving the villa, Huda revealed she was riddled with doubts during her time with Chris.
“Obviously, there was so much that was done to me, or I’ve noticed about him, that made me have doubts about him,” she told PEOPLE. “And that’s what happens when you get to know somebody. You get to know somebody, they might not be your match, and that’s okay. But I could tell that he had a wandering eye … He would tell me to shut up.”
Ben Symons/Peacock
She also claimed he would “boast about sleeping with me when it wasn’t even all the way in … Like, calm the f— down.”
“He has his own opinions about me,” she said. “But these are the kind of things that I noticed from my side that made me be wary.”
“He would say things about women that I probably didn’t really want to hear right in front of my face. He would do the nickname thing for girls, and never gave me a nickname,” she continued. “Little things, it’s like, what are you doing? It just put me in a place where I was like, okay, you’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m all about you. I don’t want anybody else,’ but then I’m hearing you doing these things.”
Chris did not share Huda’s understanding of how things went down between them.
When asked about Huda’s claims to PEOPLE, the 27-year-old said, “It’s on camera, so I don’t need to brag. Trust me, that’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m proud of it.’ No, not at all.”
“I didn’t even want to do things with her, because she wouldn’t even give me a kiss, so I don’t think I would be proud to be like, ‘Oh yeah, I did that with her,’ in my opinion.”
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Love Island USA season 7 can be streamed on Peacock.
