Ilona Maher on balancing rugby with being a social media star: listen to the people around you and block the bullies
In December, United States rugby star Ilona Maher was about to have lunch with her agent when pictures from a recent tournament showed up in her email. She took a quick flick through, and noticed one picture with prominent cellulite on her thigh.
Her first thought was, “Oh God. Look at that cellulite.” Then she took a second look. “What's important is that second thought like, okay, no, I hear you. That's society telling you cellulite is bad. But then my second thought is, wait a second. This is me playing for the USA team because I'm an Olympian and I literally chased down that girl and tackled her to the ground,” she told Olympics.com.
Maher sat down and filmed a quick video for social media, pointing out that cellulite is on her body, and posted it to Instagram and TikTok. She knew at the time that it might resonate with people, and she was right. The video made headlines with multiple publications from Sports Illustrated to The Today Show writing about her brand of unvarnished honesty.
That’s who Ilona Maher is. An Olympian. A rugby player for the US sevens team with high hopes for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and an incredibly popular content creator on social media who has made authenticity her brand.
“People are always like, you're so unapologetically yourself," she said. "And I'm like, what is everybody else doing out here? I don't even try to be that. It's just how I am. There's probably quotes about 'it's so much easier to just be yourself than to be anybody else', and so I never even thought about that. That's just how I am.”
How Ilona Maher became the content queen
Maher started posting TikTok videos during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as a way to reach out to other Olympians. COVID protocols prevented her from meeting other athletes in the Olympic Village, so she turned to her phone and started creating humorous recordings.
Since then, Maher has become a well-known entity on social media. She currently has 1.1 million followers on TikTok, and 443,000 on Instagram. She never planned to be a content creator, but when her videos started taking off, she saw a way to be able to support herself and put a spotlight on the sport she loves.
“As female athletes, especially as rugby players, we want to get sponsorships and we want to know how we can make more money," Maher said, explaining how the sport suffers from a relative lack of funding. "I think once I started doing the TikToks, I was like, okay, this is how I'm going to do it.
"I don't think it was really the way that I wanted, to be a content creator, but I just saw the value in it and I put my time and effort into it because I want to be able to play the sport, but I also want to have a comfortable life and be able to live well. I knew that it was a really important avenue to take."
Maher has tried to get her teammates to follow her lead and post videos, but it doesn't always sit comfortably with them. Now instead, she includes them in her own videos to get their names out.
“The way I'm trying to get them out there is through my own channels, like, hey, you want to be in the video with me? Let's collaborate! Let's get out there. Whenever I find something funny, okay, let's do this.
"They’ve definitely seen the power in it, but unlike me, who is okay being cringey and weird online, it's hard sometimes. And it can be really difficult and they can't do it, which I totally understand, but they respect that I do."
Mixing with the stars and getting known
Becoming a social media star has also allowed Maher to experience a life she never expected.
Earlier this year, Maher attended the Time Woman of the Year Gala alongside 'Barbie' director Greta Gerwig, actress Taraji P. Henson and tennis star Coco Gauff. She’s launching a new skincare line with former swimmer AnnRagan Kerns and is getting recognized in public more often.
“Definitely my fan base is women and girls, and a lot of teenagers. I'm a star to those college girls,” Maher said with a laugh. “Also for moms, like moms of young girls who just love me like, ‘oh my gosh, you know, I love you. I wish I had somebody like you when I was growing up. My daughter loves you.’
"I think that's really cool. I do love to see that, and when they say the impact I've had on them.”
However there is a dark side to social media too with her exploits attracting a number of negative and provoking comments, which Maher has found difficult.
“It’s an interesting balance of being so open online that also opens yourself up to criticism," she explains. "Mostly it's just bullies and trolls who their only goal in life is to make people feel bad, genuinely. And I think you have to realize that. That's just it. That's what they are... bullies.
It has been hard. Sometimes you can get thousands of great comments and you'll get one bad one and you're like, wow, that one really stung.
“I still read the comments but I also take more of what people around me are saying, what people who know me are saying. That's more important; what the actual men in my life are saying. My sisters, because their thoughts are like, 'I don't see you in that way at all'. It's just people trying to be mean to you.
“My advice is just listen to the people around you because those comments are never going to stop. People are always going to be like that, which is sad, but listen to the people around you. Also block people and delete it. You don't need that.”
Ilona Maher: 'I never toned myself down to play'
Maher grew up playing field hockey, softball and basketball, but found herself loving the physicality of rugby. Her father played the sport and she quickly found herself at home.
“I think I was always meant for that physicality. My field hockey coach would say to get to the ball, I would never go around somebody, I'd always go through them. I think that was probably my first guess that maybe I need to do something more. Even in basketball, I was always such a physical power forward.
"What’s great about rugby is it combined all the other sports I played; whether it's field awareness from field hockey, the physicality from basketball, all the skill from softball into a sport that, like, really fit my body and allowed me to use these muscles, these big shoulders, to my advantage. I never toned myself down to play.”
Maher made her debut with the US sevens in 2018 and has since been selected for the Olympic team that finished sixth at Tokyo 2020 and the Rugby World Cup squads that took fourth in 2018 and 2022. When she needs inspiration, she doesn’t have to look too far.
“Honestly, it's all the teams I've played on, with such amazing girls who are shaping the athlete I am today. Once you meet Naya Tapper, who's given me so much confidence because she has so much confidence. It's almost like a trickle down. It's like a pyramid scheme of confidence where it starts with her. And then it's trickled to me and I've trickled it to everybody else."
Maher hopes to be selected for the US team once again and competing at Paris 2024 in France, where the sport is growing, but for now is enjoying living in the now.
“My main thing first is just to enjoy all those moments before Paris, because as I learned from the last one, you're in, you're out. Boom. You're done. Next four years, maybe, maybe go to the next Olympics. And I'm like, wait, that's it?
"I trained my whole life, four years for this one moment and it's over. It's really been important for me to enjoy these moments with my teammates and the laughs in the locker room. The car rides. Because it is so fleeting and nothing is guaranteed, especially in sport, and especially the sport I play.”