IT’S one of the most savage celebrity feuds in recent history – and now the beef between Maura Higgins and Olivia Attwood has taken a shocking new turn that has left Liv and her inner circle reeling.
For months, Olivia’s camp have left like Maura has been going out of her way to emulate her Love Island rival, but in recent weeks the brunette has pulled a top-secret move that takes this ‘copycat’ theory to a whole new level, and torn open old wounds.
The Sun can exclusively reveal that, behind the scenes, the 34 year-old Irish beauty has quietly parted ways with top London PR firm Dundas communications, and signed with global powerhouse Align PR, who also represent…. Yes, you guessed it, Olivia.
And this is the second time Maura has done this. Olivia was also previously on Dundas’ books when Maura joined them, before she quickly moved over to Align, who mastermind the careers of big US names like Selena Gomez and Madonna.
Total blindside
Insiders tell us this latest development left Olivia stunned – even after everything that has gone before.
“Olivia’s never been Maura’s biggest fan as she always got the sense she was trying to follow in her footsteps, but initially she tried to see it as flattering.
Read more on Olivia and Maura
It feels like she wants to be the next Olivia, rather than building her own brand in her own lane.”
A friend of Olivia’s
“But when she learned Maura has signed with the same PR company as her, for a second time, she was shocked to say the least. All of us think it’s a total blindside that no one saw coming. Ultimately they are being looked after by separate teams within the company and there is no crossover, but still, it’s all quite bizarre.
“There are so many companies Maura could have signed with, so why did she sign with the same people who are masterminding Liv’s career? It feels like she wants to be the next Olivia, rather than building her own brand in her own lane.”
It’s understood that, publicly at least, Olivia will decline to comment, but privately she’s been left feeling unnerved.
‘She’s obsessed’
“Loads of Liv’s mates have said to her that Maura is obsessed with her. She’s trying to take the high road and not give it too much thought, because at the end of the day she’s super busy and very in demand, but it has left her feeling a bit frustrated.
“When she parted ways with Dundas, that was partly because she didn’t need to be competing with Maura for work – after all, they both come from the same launching pad and would be considered for similar gigs.
“Now she is in a position, yet again, where Maura is on the same set of agency books as her. It’s like she can’t escape her.”
While The Sun has reached out to reps for Olivia and Maura, just what is behind Maura’s latest switch-up?
Sources tell us that she hasn’t worked with Dundas for some time, and that the decision to part ways was mutual.
Also Align do a lot of work stateside, where Maura has been building her career since hosting Aftersun, the sister show to Love Island USA.
It does make strategic sense for her to sign with a company that can represent her on both sides of the pond.
Maura’s side
Indeed, a mate of Maura’s insists she isn’t acting untoward.
“Maura is just moving where the opportunities are,” the friend claims. “Yes, there has been some overlap between her career and Olivia’s but that happens in this industry. Lots of former reality stars are represented by the same people and end up doing similar jobs in the industry afterwards.”
And another chimes in: “The majority of Maura’s work now is out of the US, so it makes sense that she has US-based PR. She has had US PR previously, so this is not a first, and she is re-engaging ahead of her season of Traitors USA.
“The decision to work with Align has nothing to do with Olivia.”
But still, some of Olivia’s mates believe this runs deeper than pure coincidence.
“Maura isn’t naive, she knows how this will look,” spills one pal. “It’s no accident that she has ended up treading on Liv’s toes so much. A lot of us are convinced she aspires to recreate Olivia’s success.
“We all joke that soon she’ll be fronting documentary series about cosmetic surgery, or people who get rich from the adult entertainment industry. Or maybe she’ll even marry a footballer. None of these things would surprise us.”
History repeating
You can’t exactly blame Liv’s loyal pals for thinking this way – after all the similarities between the paths the pair have taken are striking.
Olivia started out in the industry working as a Grid Girl for motorsport events back in 2012.
In 2017, the same year Olivia entered the Love Island villa, Maura was working a Grid Girl herself, appearing at the Formula One finale in Abu Dhabi with energy drink firm, Monster.
Two years later, Maura also transitioned from the racing sidelines to reality TV and tried to find love in the Mallorca sunshine.
“It will blow your f***ing mind. You can try to hire all the same people, regurgitate my stories as your own, study the playbook, follow the recipe blah blah blah, but it will NEVER taste the same. That’s all.”
Olivia Attwood on instagram
After Love Island, the County Longford lass landed her own ITV2 show, Maura Higgins: Are You Joking?, something Olivia had done previously when she and former villa beau Chris Hughes starred in their fly on the wall series, Cracking On.
In 2022, Olivia became the first Love Island star to be booked on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, but was devastated to have to leave on medical ground after just 24 hours.
Then in 2024, Maura repeated this feat by heading to the jungle herself, making the final.
Feud goes public
Back then, Olivia appeared to make her feelings clear about this, writing on social media: “One day I’m going to write a book and some of the stuff I have managed to keep [zipped mouth emoji] on over the years,” she fumed.
“It will blow your f***ing mind. You can try to hire all the same people, regurgitate my stories as your own, study the playbook, follow the recipe blah blah blah, but it will NEVER taste the same. That’s all.”
Around this time period, Maura was also dating Pete Wicks, a long-time close pal of Olivia’s with whom she co-hosts the radio show, Sunday Roast.
When Maura and Pete’s romance crashed and burned a few months later – with Maura hinting that Pete had cheated – Olivia publicly stuck up for her friend.
In February, in the wake of Maura suggested Pete had been unfaithful, Olivia made a joke on the Brits red carpet that Pete was ‘cheating’ on his best pal Sam Thompson by attending with her.
She then doubled down on social media, saying: “Cheating’s not funny. Pete didn’t cheat. That is the joke. Hope that helps.”
And when Maura later found herself in hot water after sharing a drunken kiss with married McFly frontman Danny Jones at that very same Brit Awards, Olivia made it clear in a magazine interview that she was not impressed.
Quizzed on Maura and Danny’s lip-lock by You magazine, Liv said: “It’s not nice for the other party, is it? As much as we all love salacious gossip, there is a wife and child on the other end of that.”
And sources told The Sun at the time that Maura was livid about Liv’s public comments, revealing: “She was fuming that Olivia publicly commented on the kiss as she doesn’t believe it has anything to do with her.”
Since then, of course, it appeared like the tension between the pair might have been thawing.
Neither has taken any cryptic swipes at the other – either on instagram or through well placed sources.
Maura has been busy in Fifi filming back to back series of her companion show for the US version Love Island and its Games spin-off.
Meanwhile Olivia has cranked out another series of Bad Boyfriends, which topped the streaming charts on ITVX, has been busy filming her fourth season of Filthy Rich and has also dropped another run of her docu series The Price of Perfection.
Somehow, in amongst that, she’s found time to front her radio show, her regular panel gig on Loose Women and filling in as a summer host on This Morning.
That’s not to mention launching an edit for High Street giant River Island and fronting an upcoming cookery competition series, The Heat, for ITV2.
“Liv almost completely forgot about Maura because, let’s face it, she barely has time to think with her hectic schedule. But Maura’s latest move has really opened up old wounds. She just wishes Maura would get on with her own life rather than constantly trying to copy hers.”
