ET exclusively caught up with the two via Skype this week.
Warning: spoilers ahead! Do not proceed unless you've watched all 10 episodes of Love Is Blind.
The Love Is Blind finale was filled with plenty of drama-filled moments, but nothing was as shocking as what went down after Giannina Milady Gibelli and Damian Powers almost said "I do."
Toward the end of the two-hour Netflix episode, fans saw a teary-eyed Giannina fleeing the venue (barefoot and in her wedding dress) after being left at the altar by Damian. When ET exclusively caught up with the two via Skype this week, they opened up about what it's been like reliving that emotionally draining moment.
"It's definitely been like opening up an old wound. We had already gone through so much. Meeting without seeing each other, then getting used to each other in person. A lot of fears happened leading up to that point where insecurities got brought up and a lot of doubts surfaced," Giannina explained. "I think I came to a point where I had seen how he reacted with me. I felt comfortable with him. And just kind of wanted to give myself over to him in a way that he knew how. And that was my answer. He told me didn't know what he was going to say up until the moment that he saw me."
"I respect his decision and I understand why he said what he did ... because marriage was putting a lot of pressure on us. But it's just hard when you're in your wedding dress, in front of all your friends and family," she continued. "You're in the most vulnerable state, and I just wanted to kind of pretend it didn't happen. I finally was able to just run. And that's what I did because the entire time I was facing my fears. I just needed some time to myself."
Giannina described the moment as "very surreal," almost like a scene you'd see in a movie.
"That's exactly how it was. I couldn't believe it was happening," she shared. "I didn't think anybody was following me, which was naive to think at that point. I thought, 'OK, after the wedding, I'm done.' But no, that was not the case. I just reacted naturally and they caught that [on camera]."
Damian said that seeing the woman he built such a special connection with in the pods run away from him so abruptly "was really hard," but it certainly wasn't his intention to "hurt" her on their wedding day.
"Our plans, no matter what, was to walk away from this together, and I see how the decision embarrassed her. It was in front of her family and friends, and that's something I wish I could take away from her every day," he admitted. "I never wanted her to have to go through that or experience that. It broke my heart. It was honestly one of the hardest decisions I've ever made."
"We talked about it and she didn't believe in traditional marriage, in a sense of feeling like we're trapped by a document that says, 'Oh, we gotta do this because when you get into a marriage, you move in together. You collaborate on finances. Then you're ready to start a family,'" he added. "There are all these senses that come with the word marriage. And with us having this date rushing up on it, when I got up there, it was just like, 'Is this right for us? Can we be stronger outside of here? Do we need more time?'"
Damian said that because he and Giannina faced so many challenges together on the show, he thought it might be smarter to "be best friends first." He was just hoping she'd feel the same way.
"I made the decision I did and it was because I wanted to make sure that marriage is forever," he explained. "She already had this thing with her parents where they were divorced. It was really hard on her growing up and I didn't want that to happen again."
"I wanted to make sure we were a hundred percent in it," he added. "It was hard. It was very hard."
It's been nearly a year and a half since filming wrapped on the binge-worthy dating series. So, where does Giannina and Damian's relationship stand today? Fans will have to wait until Thursday, March 5 to find out, when the Love Is Blind tell-all reunion special drops on Netflix's YouTube channel. In the meantime, hear more from another fan-favorite couple -- Amber Pike and Matthew Barnett -- in the video below!
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