Throw a bunch of beautiful people together on an island, add permanent rays of sunshine and a hot tub for good measure and you’ve got the perfect place for romance to blossom. Or have you?
In reality, putting people together in any kind of live-in situation, whether it’s in a villa on the beautiful Spanish Balearic Island of Majorca or in a basement flat in Beckenham, is always going to cause at least some issues further down the line. And, as Love Island proves, when there are romantic relationships involved, living together can bring about its own unique set of challenges.
Behaviours are often revealed or intensified when couples live together
Only a few days ago, Yewande spoke out about how insecure she was feeling. If you are feeling insecure about your relationship, living with someone can sometimes serve to intensify these feelings. Although Love Island is an extreme situation (not many people spend 24/7 with their other half), it serves to show us how living together may bring these feelings, which were probably always there, straight up to the surface.
And it’s not just feelings of insecurity that we’re witnessing in the villa this year. Earlier in the series, we watched Joe tell Lucie that she should “get closer to the girls”, after he had witnessed Lucie and Tommy larking around. Despite Lucie’s protestations that there was nothing going on between her and Tommy, Joe told her she wasn’t “respecting the one she was with”. Some fans called Joe’s behaviour “controlling and coercive”, while others stood up for Joe saying he was right and Lucie’s behaviour was odd.
Whatever your opinion on the rights and wrongs, living together, especially at such an early stage of their romance, can no doubt put a great deal of pressure on a relationship.
On a slightly lighter note, living together can also reveal aspects of ourselves that we may well have kept hidden from our other half. Tommy, for example, was mocked recently for his cooking skills (or lack of them) after he served up a starter made of cheese, bread, ketchup and mayonnaise. Yum!
With many couples now choosing to cohabit before (or instead of) getting married, it’s important to be prepared for the ups and downs. Love Island may be an extreme example, but it does go to show that moving in with your partner (or your friends) is often a voyage of discovery which will require patience, tolerance and, if it doesn’t work, knowing when to call it quits.
If you’re considering cohabiting with your partner and what to know how this will affect you from a legal point of view, get in touch to speak to one of our experienced solicitors today.
This article was written by Lauren Howells and Megan Bennie.