Sharon Gaffka has spent the past few weeks adjusting to a much quieter kind of attention than the one that first made her known, not a villa recoupling or a reality show storyline, but the arrival of her first child.
Five years on from her time on Love Island, the former civil servant has built a public profile that has very little to do with the show itself. Between a serious drink spiking incident that pushed her into campaigning, continued work with police forces on violence against women, and now a new baby with her fiance, there is a lot to catch up on if the last time you heard her name was in 2021.
Before Love Island, Gaffka Had A Pageant Crown And A Government Job
Gaffka entered the villa on day one of Love Island’s seventh series, coupling up first with Hugo and later with Aaron before leaving the show on day nineteen without a lasting match on screen. That short run on ITV2 is still how most casual viewers place her.
What gets left out of the quick summary is what she was doing beforehand. In 2018 she was crowned Miss International United Kingdom and went on to represent the country at the Miss International final in Japan. By the time she joined Love Island in 2021, she was working as an operations lead within the Department for Transport, an entirely different world from the one the show put her into.
A Night She Cannot Remember Changed The Direction Of Gaffka’s Public Work
The part of her story that carries the most weight happened before any of the television appearances. In 2020 she was found unresponsive in a toilet cubicle while out with friends. She has said she has no memory of what happened, and a friend who works as a doctor believed she had been spiked. Too much time had passed by the time she left hospital for any evidence to be gathered on what she had actually been given.
That account did not stay private. It later became part of the government’s own reasoning when it introduced tougher sentences for the drugs most commonly linked to spiking, with her experience referenced directly in the Home Office announcement covering harsher sentences for drugs used in spiking cases.
Why Gaffka’s Campaigning Has Not Slowed Down
Her campaigning has continued for five years, well past the news cycle her original season of Love Island created. That work has included:
- A partnership with Thames Valley Police, offering the public a look at how officers handle reports of spiking and sexual assault
- A Good Morning Britain interview, where she called her relationship with the police at times turbulent, and said talking with young women helps close that gap
- Continued support for a dedicated spiking offence in England and Wales, part of the government’s wider pledge to halve violence against women within a decade
Gaffka And Torbitt Welcome A Baby Boy After A Fast Moving Year
The personal side of her life has moved quickly too. Gaffka got engaged to political commentator Matthew Torbitt in December, and by March she was sharing pregnancy news on Instagram, posting a photo of her baby bump with the caption, “It’s official, my tummy can’t be hidden anymore.”
She also joked at the time that she had expected her thirtieth birthday weekend to involve feeling unwell for entirely different reasons. The couple’s son arrived in July, matching the due date they had shared with followers months earlier, and both parents posted photos from the days after the birth, including one of the newborn asleep with his hand resting on his mother’s.
What Comes Next For Gaffka
She hasn’t said publicly whether she plans to step back from campaigning while adjusting to life with a newborn. What is clear is the pattern behind her, five years of staying on the same issue through television interviews, a police partnership and a direct mention in government policy, and that kind of consistency doesn’t tend to disappear the moment life gets busier.
