MAFS UKs Laura Vaughan Opens Up on Eating Disorder

star Laura Vaughan has revealed she has been suffering from a crippling eating disorder.

The reality star, 35, rose to fame when she married Polish tennis coach Arthur Poremba on the 2023 series, opened up about her eating disorder in a new interview.

'My friend sounded the alarm, she said I was shrinking – not just physically but mentally,' she said. 

Laura revealed to The Sun that towards the end of 2025 she dealt with several losses, including the death of her stepdad to - which brought up old grief as she had lost her father to the disease years before. She then split from her boyfriend Hayden Cote in November.

The grief manifested itself in a loss of appetite, Laura said, and she quickly began losing weight unintentionally. 

But once she realised what was happening, Laura said she almost challenged herself to continue restricting her food intake because it was one part of her life she could control. 

'It's embarrassing to admit, but I thought to myself, "I've noticed that now, I'm going to see how long I can continue to do that", I was doing it because I needed to control something,' she told the publication. 

'Although it's such a dangerous thing to do, it probably became a lot more disordered than I'd care to admit, but I don't think we should shy away from that, as an ED can come in lots of different guises.'

The painful time saw Laura's anxiety levels spike and she has been experiencing severe panic attacks as well as loss of appetite. 

Laura - who also experienced an eating disorder as a child - dropped three dress sizes in less than a year, going from a size ten to a size six, and even .

She went on to say that she did need help, but wished it had been approached with more empathy in the form of a sit down and talk - rather than plainly being quizzed by people online which felt like an 'attack'.

However those closest to her have helped her begin her healing journey, with one supportive friend in particular starting the conversation.

Laura revealed she had found love again with Hayden last year as she gushed he is 'the best thing to happen to me' after struggling to date following her appearance on the  reality show. 

However it was reported in November that the pair had split after nine months of dating. 

A source told The Sun at the time: 'Laura and Hayden have gone their separate ways, they decided it was for the best thing to do.

'They both tried to make it work a few times and were in contact on and off but they now think it's better to end things for good.'

'Despite having a lot of love for each other, it wasn’t working and they both thought it was better to end things now before it got messy,' they added. 

Speaking to the Daily Mail in March 2025, Laura confirmed the romance as she said: 'I'm happy to say that I've been in a relationship now for some time that I initially wanted to keep out of the spotlight. I found sharing my love life on MAFS quite overwhelming at times so I've tried to keep this quite low key.'

She continued: 'I wasn't expecting to find love so soon after MAFS, I found dating really difficult after the show came out but I met my partner really organically through the industry and wouldn't have met him if I hadn't done MAFS so I ultimately ! 

'Things were never destined to work between Arthur and I , this relationship is much more suited.'

She added: 'Having said that, we are starting to be slightly more public now, he's meeting some of my friends from love island at a birthday party next week so we are now just fitting into each others lives like any other couple would.

'We are very happy and we actually attended a Sutton FC game together, which is Paul Brunson's football club so Paul has already met him.

'Paul's opinion is always important to me because he's been a constant relationship coach for me since I left the show.'

If you have been affected by anything in this article, please call Beat eating disorders on 0808 801 0677