ET spoke with the reality star via Zoom on Monday, where she broke down Netflix's explosive 'After the Altar' party.
Giannina Gibelli is setting the record straight on where her relationship with Damian Powers stands today following the dramatic Love Is Blind: After the Altar reunion.
While speaking to ET via Zoom on Monday, Giannina opened up about her complicated romance with Damian, which began on season 1 of Love Is Blind in 2018. Fans saw Giannina in tears after Damian left her at the altar during the finale, but the two were able to work things out and continue to date after the show. Since then, however, things have become much more complicated, and Giannina is ready to finally give fans an update.
"I am officially single," Giannina confirmed to ET, adding that After the Altar was filmed last fall. "Me and Damian haven't been dating for a couple of months now. I've moved on. I feel really, really good. I'm definitely at a really good place in my life."
"For the first time in like three years I feel like I don't have to keep some sort of my life private anymore," she continued. "We were just under wraps about everything. I was still trying to figure out, how does my life look without him in it? It's been a long time but I feel really good. I've processed it all. I'm such at peace."
Giannina said that despite everything, she has no regrets about giving love a chance with Damian.
"I don't regret anything. You definitely learn from all different kinds of love. I definitely learned from that," she explained. "In a relationship, we were just very different, and I think that's very clear. There's nothing wrong with that, opposites really attract, but with us, it's just I guess the way that we communicated, we didn't really understand what the other was trying to say. It was constantly like that."
"We had some really great moments in our relationship. Like some of my best memories, ever ... but at the end of the day, we just weren't as compatible as we should have been after dating for two years," she added. "If the relationship isn't easy and you're kind of arguing over these little things, things that you should have moved on from, it's just like, 'All right. What's happening?'"
Back in August 2020, fans went wild when Powers -- who was seemingly still dating Giannina -- was photographed out and about in Los Angeles with Too Hot to Handle's Francesca Farago. Damian told ET in a statement at the time that he and Francesca were "not dating or romantically involved but remain friends."
"When I saw those pictures I started laughing," Giannina shared, telling ET that she trusted Damian at the time. "I was just like, 'Oh my god, this is so funny. How do people really think that there's anything going on between them?'"
"I was like, 'OK, there's clearly, like, nothing there," she added. "But, you know, always kind of keep your eyes, your wits about you. Because you never really know, I guess."
A scene from Love Is Blind: After the Altar showed Damian meeting up and getting drinks with Francesca. The two appeared flirtatious at points, with Damian even asking Francesca to attend the anniversary party for Lauren Speed and Cameron Hamilton and Amber Pike and Matthew Barnett. When Francesca asked Damian if it was "a date," he suggested they go "as friends and see where the night goes."
"I have a really weird coping mechanism, so when I'm uncomfortable, I laugh or I smile. So I just busted out laughing," Giannina explained, of how she reacted to watching that unfold on TV. "I was like, 'What? Are you serious right now?' It was just a very surreal moment, because I didn't even feel that [between them] at all at that time. So, it's just interesting watch it back as well. I'm right there in the seat with you."
Giannina admitted to ET that she was just as blindsided as the rest of us when Damian brought Francesca to the party, knowing she would be there and it would be awkward for everyone.
"Basically, I knew she was in town, but I didn't know that they were planning on going as a date," Giannina recalled. "That, like, my blood boils just thinking about that. I also wasn't expecting to be treated that way either. You know, if you're going to bring someone as a friend, then why am I the one being treated like the stranger?"
"So that's where I was just completely caught off guard," she added. "Yeah, I didn't appreciate that at all."
Giannina told ET that she and Damian tried to communicate after the party, but ultimately decided to go their separate ways.
"It was a lot to process and it was a very long breakup," she revealed. "I have never been one to just, like, not peel off the Band-Aid so this was new ... it was just like that trust wasn't really there [anymore]."
As for whether she thinks they'll ever get to a point where they can be friends? "Yeah, I don't see why not," she replied. "We always felt that we were really good friends. But as lovers, it was just very intense, in not the best ways. So, just give it some time. I'm sure he'll have a girlfriend, and whatever. I wish [him] the best."
Right now, Giannina is "really enjoying" being single, she said, and is excited for this next chapter of her life.
"Everything's been great. I've been really finding myself and getting out of my comfort zone, completely," she shared. "I'm definitely ready to date. I wasn't at first, at all, it was very scary. Just because everything's so public ... like do they think I'm hurt, damaged?"
"I definitely feel confident in what it is that I want in my life," she continued. "I definitely want someone that I can settle down with. I want someone that I can adventure with and just have fun with, and do nothing with all at the same time. Someone that's like me in the sense that they're spontaneous and just very go with the flow. But also someone that is a little more disciplined. Just because I tend to fly off the handles sometimes, so something like that. An entrepreneur, someone that's just really driven and confident in themselves."
Love Is Blind: After the Altar is streaming now on Netflix. Hear more in the video below.
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