Hayley Love was at the centre of Farmer Wants A Wife’s biggest scandal when she announced last year that she was expecting farmer Will Dwyer’s baby.
So it’s no great surprise the 27-year-old – who originally competed for the affections of Farmer Matt Trewin on the reality show – tells Woman’s Day she’s steering clear of the current season.
“It’s very triggering, even the commercials, so I try not to watch the TV at the moment,” the new mum tells in her first interview since her daughter’s birth.
Hayley was on the 13th season.
(Image: Instagram)A week after filming finished on Farmer in December 2020, Hayley says Will contacted her and invited her to visit him on his farm in Longwood, Victoria.
The pair then embarked on a four-and-a-half-month romance, before Hayley discovered last Easter that she was expecting. Hayley says she was already planning to call things off with the cattle and sheep farmer after growing tired of the relationship and admits she felt apprehensive to tell him she was pregnant.
‘HE HASN’T MET DAISY’
Relations between the pair have been strained since Hayley broke the news and she hasn’t spoken to Will, 40, since. “He hasn’t met Daisy,” Hayley claims of the pair’s daughter, who was born in December 2021 and is now a happy, thriving nine-month-old. “I did tell him a couple of hours after she was born that she was here, just out of courtesy and so he didn’t hear it through the media.”
While Will is yet to meet his daughter, Hayley says Daisy will “definitely know who her father is”. “Will’s actually on her birth certificate, so it’s not like he doesn’t exist to her,” she tells Woman’s Day. “If she wants to meet him down the track when she’s old enough, she’s more than welcome to.
“If he wanted to be in her life 100 per cent then I would allow it, but I just don’t see that happening… maybe when he’s older.”
Fans were delighted by shocked by the baby news.
(Image: Instagram)GOING SOLO
Hayley says there are lots of positives to single parenting. “I’m the only parent [so] I’m parenting her the way I want to,” says the star, who admits she’s finding motherhood easier than expected. “But I think that’s mostly because of my support network.”
The new mum and baby Daisy live with Hayley’s parents, Michelle and Robert, in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs. “They’re there for me if I need help with bathtime, and most of the time Mum cooks dinner, so I’ve got it easy in that way.”
Hayley needed all the support she could get when she dropped her pregnancy bombshell publicly in July last year. But she admits her admission didn’t go down well with the show’s production.
Hayley is loving motherhood.
(Image: Instagram)“I was a bit let down with a few people in production because Will and a few of them were telling me not to say anything,” Hayley claims.
“There was one lady in production who was very, very supportive, which was nice. I just felt very manipulated to be quiet and it was having a big impact on me because I was seeing all the articles coming out saying ‘someone’s pregnant’ and I was sitting here, the one who is actually pregnant, not being able to say anything. That was the hardest part and I thought, I’m just going to do it.”
Her decision wasn’t popular with the network. “I did get a phone call from someone,” Hayley reveals.
“They said, ‘You should have told us that you were going to do this and we would have done it in a different way.’ I’m pretty sure they were implying, ‘We would have done it and not mentioned Will,’ or ‘We would have done it some other way,’ so they didn’t look bad.”
Daisy was born December 2021.
(Image: Instagram)Still, Hayley says she did receive help from the show’s psychologist, and she has no regrets about appearing on Farmer.
“I just wish I knew more about it and spoke to someone who had been through it before and just knew what to expect,” she shares, revealing she’d urge this year’s participants, “Don’t take it too seriously. If you don’t have feelings for the guy, don’t stick around.”
While Hayley looks back now and says her “feelings for [Matt] were more than they [actually] were,” she admits the Victorian-based farmer was one of the first to congratulate her on the birth of baby Daisy.
So cute!
(Image: Instagram)“I heard from Matt quite soon after Daisy was born,” she tells Woman’s Day, revealing there are no bad feelings between the pair.
The reality star says it remains to be seen if her appearance on Farmer has turned her off looking for love for good. “I can’t imagine dating anyone anytime soon,” she says.
For now, Hayley’s just focusing on her tiny soulmate – her daughter. “She’s made me a lot happier. It’s changed me as a person – I appreciate my relationship with my mum a lot more. I’m excited to wake up and see Daisy. I’ve never experienced this kind of love before.”
Farmer Wants A Wife returns to Channel 7 and 7Plus on April 14.
