Model, author, and television personality Ekin Cülcüloğlu shot to global fame on Love Island, sent pulses racing in Netflix’s Inside: USA, and became one of the most outspoken Faithful’s in the Traitors (US) Season 2. But, while the girl who her friends call “Ekin” has graced the covers of fashion magazines and has millions of social media followers, this former teenage beauty pageant contestant prefers a balanced lifestyle over social media brainwashing. As she explains to M&F Hers, building muscle is of more interest than starving herself.
These days, Ekin-Su has almost five million followers across her Instagram and TikTok profiles, but as a teenager this London born girl of Turkish descent just wanted to be noticed.
“If we want to be really, really, honest, I was 17. Should have been 18, but I lied. I got away with it somehow. I went to South Korea to compete with Miss Asia Pacific,” Ekin-Su reveals to M&F Hers. “When I was only 17, I flew all the way to South Korea on my own, except for the management company I had at the time, with these beautiful women from all over the globe. We had Miss Russia, Venezuela, Brazil, we had China, and I was just gobsmacked at how stunning these diverse women were.”
Still, there would be other aspects of the beauty pageant industry that Ekin-Su was less enamored with. “Obviously I’m talking 10 years ago, people would be talking about eating carrots the whole day,” she recalls. “I didn’t think it was a lifestyle I could be a role model for.”
As an impressionable youngster, Ekin-Su has experienced the side-effects of following fad diets. “I did this stupid diet when I was at school called the ‘apple green diet,’” she shares. “I will not recommend this to anyone. Morning, I had an apple. Afternoon, I had an apple. Nighttime, I had an apple. And I just drank water. I was breaking out, I was losing hair, I was always angry, I was restless. It’s not worth it. The best time I lose weight is when I actually eat balanced meals.”
Fortunately, a formative personal relationship would come along and teach her the value of building muscle rather than trying to be seriously slim.
Ekin-Su Learned to Love Protein
“When I met my first boyfriend, he was always in the gym,” shares Ekin-Su. “He was eight years older than me, he had a very muscular body, and he took me to the gym for the first time—and I was so scared,” shares Ekin-Su. “I think he really taught me that we need to stop eating too much sugar. And to look good and feel good, you need protein.”
Ekin-Su soon found that the gym was not a place to be fearful of and slowly built up her levels of healthy eating by adding steak, salmon, chicken, and fish to her meals. Fat was never off the table, but she now gravitates to natural fats from meat and fish.
Previously obsessed with cardio, Ekin-Su tells M&F Hers that she now feels motivated to put her stronger body through resistance training with weights, too. And, embracing 31-years-of-age, her consistency is paying off. “I’m noticing my body changing,” beams the beautiful brunette. “When I’m wearing a dress, I’m looking nice and curvy, like I’ve got a shape to myself. I’m feeling really-strong mentally as well. When you do a hard weight session, the feeling afterwards is unbelievable. You feel like you can take over the world and do well academically as well.”
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Ekin-Su has Found Peace Through Cutting Out Negative Voices
Keen to promote realistic views of beauty, Ekin-Su took her workout fueled academic prowess to an Oxford University debate in 2023 and explained that the accessibility of social media provides anyone with a voice, encouraging empowerment and representation. Still, she does believe that we should be listening to experts rather than self-style influencer’s that have little experience.
“We can’t be listening to ‘Amy’ down the road, who has read a book about what women should look like,” Ekin-Su jokes in all seriousness. “We should be listening to the voices that are professionals. People who have studied, like doctors, psychologists, psychiatrist. I just think things are thrown up easily on the internet,” she tells M&F Hers. “Everyone has a phone.”
While Ekin-Su generally welcomes the freedom and possibilities of social media, she also wants people to think twice and check the credentials of the ‘expert’ on their screen. Last year, she authored the book Be Your Own Best Friend: And Other Lessons from a Life Lived In and Out of the Limelight.
No doubt, the model and TV personality has found that shutting out the negative voices works just as well offline.
“Do the right things,” she says. “Like cutting certain people out of your life that aren’t good for you, or friendships, management teams, or even boyfriends that you know are going to affect your work, and who you are mentally. It’s all a puzzle, and it all comes together. So, it’s all about taking the right steps and working hard. There will be friends who don’t go to the gym a lot, and it’s about having the sort of willpower to say, ‘Well, I’m still going to spare half-an-hour and run outside’. Or, ‘I’m going to take a walk’. Even in those cold winter nights, it is hard sometimes, but I think once you do it, you’ll feel great after.”
Ekin-Su says that her own very personal journey has taught her that looking good is simply a welcome side effect of feeling good. “Beauty comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes,” she explains. “It’s about how you feel, and I think if we can turn that around, I think most people will have a different perception of beauty.”
To follow Ekin-Su on Instagram, click here. and on TikTok, click here.
