Paige Spiranac slams critics who are now ‘oversexualizing’ themselves to build a brand after years of outrage against her

Golfer Paige Spiranac has amassed a massive following on social media with over 3.7 million followers on Instagram and over 1.5 million on TikTok.

Spiranac was a standout golfer at San Diego State before entering the sports influencer space. She appeared on the latest episode of “Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre” and was asked about female influencers in space and if there was a sense of community there.

“I stay on my own. I’m very introverted. I keep my head down, do my job and get it done. But if any of the young girls contact me, I’m more than willing to give advice. , ” she says.

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“I think I’m a little more reserved because of all the hate I’ve received from women in the industry, so I’m a little hesitant to reach out or want to collaborate because I got burned in the past, but if one of them reaches out, I’m always ready to lend a hand.”

Spiranac said she received backlash from LPGA golfers when she first tried to play professionally.

“When I came into the industry and when I was trying to play professionally, a lot of LPGA players didn’t like me and were very outspoken about it, and a lot of influencers who came behind me, they said they didn’t want to go down the path I was going down, that they weren’t going to “oversexualize” themselves, and they turned around and did the exact same thing.

“Sometimes there just isn’t a level of respect for everything that I’ve been through, and if I didn’t do it they wouldn’t even do it now. They wouldn’t even have a job without all the the difficulties that I have faced and the path that I have opened up to them.”

Spiranc talked more about his quest to play golf professionally on an episode of his podcast, “Playing A Round.” She said she was doing everything she could to get the LPGA Tour card, but she started getting more fans on social media.

Paige Spiranac attends Maxim Hot 100 Experience in Hyde Beach at SLS South Beach on July 16, 2022 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Aaron Davidson/Getty Images)

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“I was playing very well and my whole life changed,” Spiranac said. “I blew up on social media. I didn’t end up being an assistant coach again. I didn’t even finish my last semester in college. I never graduated, which is something so crazy and I never talked about it I was two credits short of graduating.

She noted that things really changed when she traveled to Dubai to perform.

“…Then I got the invitation to go and play in Dubai. I blew up there. I did a year of professional golf and I was just mentally exhausted. In golf you fail more than you do. succeed, and I was doing it in the public eye. Everyone was like, ‘You should quit. You should quit. You’re no good.'”

“All of these things, and I was already dealing with these mental issues from years and years and years of trying so hard and failing, and I just broke. Honestly, I broke down. J ‘ broke and I just quit. I said, ‘Maybe I’ll go back,’ and I never went back to try and play golf professionally.”

Paige Spiranac attends the ESPYs at Microsoft Theater on July 10, 2019 in Los Angeles. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

She currently works with several brands and attends events as a golf influencer. Spiranac said she is happy with her current career, but given the choice, she would choose to play competitively over influencing.

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“If I had the choice to do what I do to play on the LPGA Tour, I would probably choose the LPGA Tour because it was just a goal that I always wanted to achieve and it was a of my dreams – and I wish I could tick that off before I got into full-time media work,” Spiranac said. “But that’s not how life works.”

Fox News’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report.