Love Is Blind's Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl Open Up About Getting Married in the 'Worst Possible Mental Space'

The season 2 exes also reminisced about the difficulties of adjusting to married life while having to hide their relationship from the public: “I felt like a shell watching my life from afar, not actually living it”

JC Olivera/Getty for iHeartRadio; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Former Love Is Blind couple Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl are reflecting on their past relationship and the challenges they faced as newlyweds.

In the newest episode of Thompson’s podcast Eyes Wide Open, the pair opened up about their short-lived marriage and how they were in the “worst possible mental space” when they decided to tie the knot.

“I didn’t know how to deal with myself, let alone expect someone else to know how to navigate that with me,” Ruhl, 29 said, adding that she and Thompson, 37, were both in a very “low” state.

Thompson claimed that when the show first started airing new episodes, participants were told they weren’t allowed to be seen in public together for a few weeks.

“We were trying to figure out a marriage that wasn’t even a year old [and] navigate the struggles that we had,” he explained. “We couldn’t be seen in public. We couldn’t go anywhere. We couldn’t go out to dinner.”

Adrian S. Burrows Sr./Netflix Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl

Ruhl said she didn’t even leave the house as Thompson chimed in how they were “basically trapped in” together for a few weeks. “I felt like a shell watching my life from afar, not actually living it,” she shared.

The former couple claimed they had to follow numerous strict rules, such as not appearing in social media posts before all of the Love Is Blind episodes were released. They also said fans of the show would even go as far as stalking the cast member’s Venmo accounts to try to figure out which couples were still together.

Ruhl added that once she and Thompson were able to go out in public together, they would

“get interrupted all the time” on their dates, even on their anniversary. “We couldn’t even have a conversation with one another,” she said. “It was just sad.”

“You’re not used to having hundreds of thousands of people commenting on you, your relationship, your family, your behaviors, your job,” Thompson added.

Thompson also discussed how difficult it was to go through their separation and have everyone in the public speculating about their relationship at the same time. (Ruhl filed for divorce in August 2022 after a year of marriage.)

“Doing that in the public eye was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” he said. “I’m still reeling from it to this day.”

Adam Rose/Netflix Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson

Ruhl said she felt that a lot of people “didn’t understand how serious the feelings were” between her and Thompson, who echoed similar thoughts.

“There were moments where I literally felt like no one cared,” he shared. “No one thought it was a loss. No one thought I was grieving.”

The exes first sparked rumors of a rekindled relationship when Ruhl posted a snuggly selfie of the two of them to her Instagram story. Then, on the previous episode of Thompson’s podcast, the pair spoke about their unique bond and what prompted the reunion.

“We lived through all of it together, but no one else in the world, even my friends — everyone else that was on the show — none of them had the experience that we did,” Ruhl said on Part 1 of the podcast episode. “And that’s why it was so hard to not be able to find comfort with anyone. No one else can relate to this but you and I.”

Danielle Ruhl/Instagram Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson

Though they haven’t fully rekindled their romance, the exes continue to lean on each other for support — and confirmed on the new episode that they “still love each other.”

“We have each other’s back and I’ll always have your back no matter what,” Thompson said. “Yeah, this was real. For those of you who think this was just a TV show, it wasn’t for us.”

“It’s still a loss,” he continued of their relationship, adding that people “have no idea how much they loved each other” or what it was really like between them. “I still feel it. And we’re gonna be connected forever, whether we decide we wanna be or not.”

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Seasons 1-4 of Love Is Blind are available to stream on Netflix.

Read the original article on People.