Molly-Mae's documentary is an incredible example of personal branding
Aspirational AND relatable
I spent my Friday night eating instant noodles and watching the first few episodes of Molly-Mae: Behind It All on Prime (the second part is apparently out later this year).
I know, I know - I’m wild.
I’ve always been fascinated by Molly-Mae, and I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on why. My first impression, when we first met her sitting in a hot-tub on Love Island, was that I loved, and was incredibly envious of, her platinum hair and huge topknot.
Though she was conventionally attractive and fit the Love Island fashion standard, Molly-Mae always put her own stamp on things which made her stand out.
While her Love Island cast-mates have almost all faded into obscurity, Molly-Mae has gone from strength to strength, becoming the gold standard for UK influencers. When she split with Tommy Fury in 2024, our hearts were broken for her. But in a matter of weeks, fans were criticising her for the quality of her new fashion brand, Maebe.
I think doing this documentary was a genius move for Molly to bring her reputation back to it’s shining glory, and here’s why.
Molly-Mae is still relatable despite her success
In the first five minutes of the show, Molly orders a McDonalds and declares that she “lives to eat”. In a later episode, she talks about how she loves to chill at home in her pyjamas.
What girl doesn’t love that? In fact, it reminded me a little of hanging out with my friends as a teenager; junk food, sleepovers and deep chats.
The show also showed Molly spending time with her mum, dad and sister and navigating life as a single mum (no nanny in sight).
While Molly is probably the blueprint for what young women and girls currently aspire to be and have - she’s beautiful, rich, and owns her own fashion brand - she comes across as someone who is remarkably down to earth - a normal girl who made it big.
She didn’t hide her roots
Lots of former reality TV contestants (and YouTubers) turned mainstream celebrities try to separate themselves from the platform that kickstarted their success.
To fans, this can often come across as ungrateful and snobby, especially when the TV show has a huge, engaged fanbase who go to the ends of the earth to support their faves.
Molly-Mae seems to embrace her past and look back on her time on Love Island with gratitude. She’s shown watching clips of the show in the documentary, explaining her thought process at the time and talking about her experience, which we don’t often get to see.
Giving an insight into her personal life without baring everything
Throughout the documentary, Molly-Mae comes across as an open book - she talks about struggling with her break-up with her partner of five years and father of her daughter, her anxiety about public events and her need for perfection.
In case you were living under a rock when the break-up was first announced, there was a ton of speculation about what was the cause of the break-up.
What Molly does really cleverly with this documentary is share how she’s feeling about the situation and a little insight into what happened without actually sharing the nitty-gritty details.
This is really smart, because it means she’s able to avoid her followers thinking she’s holding things back from them without having to bare her private life to all and sundry (and let’s not forget, everyone has the right to keep their private life, well, private).
Because we didn’t get a concrete answer, people will continue to speculate on the reason - whether that’s what Molly wants or not, it keeps her relevant.
Reframing the narrative
When Molly-Mae launched her fashion brand, Maebe, at the end of September last year, reports of poor quality, bobbling fabric, particularly on the £140 “Ultimate” blazer, which TikTok in particular was quick to rip into her about and accuse her of shilling rubbish to make money.
While the issue was explained by the Maebe team at the time, it didn’t do much to settle the backlash.
The main benefit of the documentary, in my opinion, is that Molly was able to reframe the narrative around this issue - that the fabric the blazers had been made in was not the same fabric that she’s signed off.
The show then showed Molly working to rectify the issue while also fighting to make a statement to her followers when she’s been advised not to, emphasising how honest and open she always wants to be with her fans.
After watching the documentary, I think Molly-Mae is genuinely a down to earth person with a hell of a talent for building her brand and knowing exactly where she wants to take it. (she’s been taking Instagram seriously since she was a teenager). I think her spot as the UK influencer peoples’ princess is well-deserved.
Have you watched this series yet and if so, what did you make of it?