Why reality star Tanya Hennessy hates ‘influencer’ label: ‘I hate it actually’

I’m A Celeb star Tanya Hennessy reveals the reason she struggles with being famous on social media, and dishes on her recent weight loss.

She went viral for her comments about the so-called “catch-up trap” and being open about her fertility struggles on social media but Tanya Hennessy says she “hates” being labelled as an influencer.

In a new interview with the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About, the 39-year-old – who rose to fame on radio and as a contestant on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! – is critical of the word.

“I work in comedy, I write TV scripts, I do columns, I’m an author, I do radio shows, and I make social media content. I would say I’m a social media creator,” Hennessy told Stellar.

“I used to write the word ‘influencer’ out of all my contracts because what it really means is to influence sales. If the word was to influence joy, positivity or positive change, I’d be like, great, but it’s to influence sales and being aligned as a commodity didn’t feel comfortable.”

‘I don’t like the word influencer!’ Tanya Hennessy – radio presenter and former star of I’m A Celeb. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Listen to the full interview with Tanya Hennessy on Something To Talk About below:

“It still doesn’t. That is why I don’t like the word ‘influencer’ for me. Some people do identify with it. I hate it actually.”

Hennessy, who married long-term partner Tom Poole last year in September, has been public about discussing her fertility struggles and undergoing IVF.

She told Something To Talk About that she initially spoke about IVF because she thought “after the first two rounds, it would just work.” The content creator is now on her seventh round of IVF.

Tanya Hennessy is on the cover of today’s Stellar. Picture: Stellar

Tanya Hennessy, right, with husband Tom Poole. Picture: Instagram

“There is a part of me that goes I’m glad I shared it because you can see the exhaustion of it. It’s not solved, it’s a process.

“It’s not, ‘Oh, Tanya said she had infertility struggles, two weeks later she’s pregnant.’ It’s ‘Tanya says she had an infertility problem, five years later, she’s still experiencing it.’ That is important to see.”

For more from Tanya, listen to her on Something To Talk About:

She has also been open about losing weight as part of her fertility journey, and understands why people are “curious” about her changing body image.

“I feel different, but I also feel like I understand why people want to comment on it because I look different. I get it.

“I gained a lot of weight in the media, and then I was just like, can we just not talk about my body at all? I guess that’s how I want people to see me because I will fluctuate and I am going to continue to fluctuate my whole life.

“I want to see my soul and my heart before you see the way I look.”

Read the full interview and see the shoot with Tanya Hennessy in the new issue of Stellar out today inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).

For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here.