- Vanity Fair published an excerpt from Anna Peele’s upcoming book, Enter the Villa, on May 14.
- The excerpt details how Leah Kateb and Rob Rausch’s on-screen relationship changed the trajectory of Love Island USA.
- Leah called out the publication and writer for the “disrespectful” portrayal of her and fellow islanders, JaNa Craig and Serena Page, after supporting and posting a screenshot from the excerpt on social media.
Leah Kateb had time today. The former Love Island USA star addressed a recent excerpt from Anna Peele’s upcoming book, Enter the Villa, that was published in Vanity Fair on Thursday, May 14. Fans pointed out the chapter had misogynistic undertones, based on descriptions of Leah and her PPG besties, JaNa Craig and Serena Page.
Leah had initially posted a (since-deleted) screenshot featuring a small section of the excerpt to her Instagram Stories in support of the Vanity Fair piece before reading the entire story, with fans questioning how it even happened in the first place.
Under a recent unrelated TikTok video Leah had posted the same day the excerpt was released, one of her followers asked, “I like you so don’t block please but please discuss the Vanity Fair article? They dragging you really bad.”
She then took a moment to clarify the situation with a lengthy reply, in which she wrote, “You guys want a gotcha moment so badly. I was sent a screenshot of just that small section by someone & I posted it then 5 min later im getting told to check the article (which is on me, I 100% should’ve before posting) but I never would’ve imagined in the big 2026 someone, a WOMAN, would write something like that for a well known magazine ????”
The Skylar chief creative officer continued, “Like I never would’ve have guessed wtf was actually written. I don’t even know how what I read correlated to the article. I deleted it right away once I saw the title and was even MORE grossed out by the content of the article.”
“I think it’s disgusting, FALSE, harmful, and disrespectful. Yall can ‘drag’ me for 40 days and 40 nights but my PEOPLE know my heart. That’s all I care abt. And everyone knows I don’t play about them. Goodnight,” she added, closing her response.
Speaking of Leah’s people, they also made it into the piece through descriptions that seemingly painted them as caricatures: Serena was perceived as a “self-described ‘hard bitch’” while JaNa’s descriptors focused on her “comic-book cleavage” and “sexy baby voice.”
The excerpt also includes a questionable take on Leah’s physical appearance, hence why fans made it a point to call out its misogyny: “Leah had a manicured beauty that was no less perfect than the usual Villa standards: hair thickened by transplant, extension, or God’s grace; boobs and butts pointed toward heaven; lips and brows zhuzhed by cosmetic dermatology; errant teeth replaced by veneers by way of Turkey or whatever dentist will throw a future Islander a deal for a post.”
Elsewhere in the excerpt, Anna details how Leah’s tumultuous onscreen relationship with Rob Rausch transformed the trajectory of the fan-favorite reality series in season 6. While the narrative mainly surrounded the girls’ surface-level qualities, the writer seemed to focus more on Rob’s humanity and mental health discussions after his infamous crashout following Casa Amor.
Which, as Leah said, is a weird choice in our big year 2026.
