“Love Is Blind” star Iyanna McNeely would need bonding time with one of her besties after the monumental week she just survived!
The reality star, who captivated hearts with her free spirit on the second season of the wildly successful Netflix series, made headlines earlier this week when she and her husband, Jarrette Jones, who she met and fell in love in the show’s signature pods, announced they would be getting a divorce a year after their wedding was filmed. (via Us Weekly).
McNeely isn’t keeping her head low after the announcement! She was spotted hanging out with her “Love Is Blind” co-star Natalie Lee, and the two gals spent time catching up over dinner. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for their conversation!
What Did McNeely And Jones’ Divorce Announcement Say?
The former couple took a modest approach to announcing the news of their separation.
According to The Blast’s report from earlier this week, Jones and McNeely respectively took to their Instagram accounts and shared a black-and-white text post, giving fans as much information as possible about their split.
Their letter read, “What’s going on, family. After much thought, we’re saddened to share that we have separated and will begin the process of divorcing. While we have love for each other, our lives are going in different directions, and that’s okay. Coming to this decision was far from easy and we will always wish each other the absolute best…”
The couple asked for privacy as their announcement went on.
“We hope you all will give us some space as we close this chapter of our lives. Thank you to our close friends and family for loving us both through our experience. To the “Love Is Blind” and Netflix, thank you for the unforgettable opportunity and support. Each of you have brought overwhelming love and joy into our lives. This experience has taught us so much about ourselves, vulnerability, and love. We don’t regret a single thing!”
The Way They Were: Looking Back At Happier Times
Back in the Spring, McNeely and Jones were celebrating Netflix’s release of their season, while basking in their newlywed phase.
They were on board to dish about all of their plans and what the ideal future looked like.
According to one of our reports, the couple divulged all of the details about their hopes and dreams in an interview with People Magazine.
Jones and McNeely discussed their mutual desire to travel.
“The first thing on our agenda is to travel because we had talked about that in the pod so much,” Jones began, “about how we just wanted to travel the world before we settled down again, having children. Just so we can be out as a married couple with no strings attached, no bars, and just be ourselves and enjoy our time together,” he explained.
Getting to a point where the couple felt settled enough to start entertaining dreams about the future was a long time coming. Jones and McNeely went through an adjustment period to life beyond the pods and the presence of cameras.
According to Us Weekly, McNeely felt “awkward” to see her husband work out his feelings and relationship with fellow contestant Mallory Zapata.
She expanded on her feelings, telling the publication, “I knew about [Jones and Zapata’s] conversation beforehand. They both told me about it, but I think they both kind of forgot the details of it. So when I watched, I was like, ‘Ah, God.’ Like, it was just so awkward. But at the same time, while the feelings felt fresh, I was constantly reminding myself, ‘That’s not who he is.’ And he’s proven for almost nine months now who he is. I’m not going to make excuses for him, but I think it was just how fresh everything was.”
How Is McNeely Healing From Their Split?
There’s nothing like the presence of good friends during hard times!
McNeely and Lee took some time to relax by having dinner together, an experience both ladies shared via their Instagram accounts.
According to People, Lee revealed their hang-out fest had been a “4+ hour dinner,” and she had shared snaps of McNeely enjoying some oysters on her Instagram story.
Bon appetite, ladies!