Isla Fisher reveals dating turn-offs she finds 'repulsive'

The 50-year-old actress has opened up about being back on the dating scene following her split from Sacha Baron Cohen in 2023 with the actress revealing exactly what would put her off potential lovers - confessing she wouldn't date a man who wore "deck shoes" or turned up with a backpack.

During an appearance on Australian radio station KIIS FM’s The Smallzy Show, Isla was asked to name her biggest turn-offs and she replied: "Backpack the wrong way, backpack period. If a bloke shows up in a backpack, wrap it up, Wayne. It's done.

"It's like you can wear a backpack, but it's if you click your backpack together, if you click it there, it’s not good."

She went on to add: "And you know what's really the biggest ick, which I saw someone recently do, and he slid the bottom of his, like he was wearing those deck shoes, which are already quite aspirational and a bit of an ick.

"But he slipped the heel off and he was just wearing them like a plimsoll like, he was just wearing them. Like, I could see his heel, repulsive."

Isla also admitted the way actors run onscreen can also be off-putting - and she credited Tom Cruise as one of the few leading men who have really "nailed" it.

She said: "Unfortunately for men, I think in films, romantic films, they can give the audience the ick pretty quickly. It doesn't take much to put a female audience member off a leading man …

"Like, you know when they run, when a man runs on film and it's just like, it looks like a sprinkler moving. It's just wrong. Like Tom Cruise has really nailed the sexy run."

Isla Fisher previously admitted she went through a difficult few years following her split from Sacha, the father of her three kids, in 2023 after 13 years of marriage.

However, in an interview with E! News, Isla said her experiences have forced her to realise her own strength. She said: "I would say that I’m much stronger than I thought I was ...

"My friendships, my female friendships have really been instrumental to me discovering or recovering that strength. “And so I’m incredibly grateful."

Isla and Sacha finalised their divorce in 2025, and the mother-of-three spoke about the split in an interview with The Sunday Times, as she called it “the most difficult thing I’ve been through”.

She added: “I’ve learned so much about myself in the process. I never imagined my family being separated, but we are committed and loving parents.

"Kids are the most important thing, and you want them to really feel safe and loved. We are building a new, healthy version of what our family looks like and putting as much care and love into it as possible."