The exes dated off-camera after filming for the show wrapped.
Aaliyah Cosby is speaking her truth after her seemingly abrupt exit from season 5 of Love Is Blind. The nurse and contestant on the Netflix dating show was featured heavily in the early episodes, showing her falling for fellow contestant Uche Okoroha in the pods.
The couple hit a snag, first when Aaliyah shared that she had been unfaithful to a past partner and Uche didn't take the news well. But things got even worse when Uche shared that he and fellow contestant, Lydia Velez Gonzalez, whom Aaliyah had grown very close to in the pods, had been in a past relationship.
The revelation shocked Aaliyah, who later decided to leave the pods early without telling Uche. The pair met up in the real world and seemed to end their romance there. Uche later claimed on social media that wasn't what happened, sharing they decided to date in the real world.
In several new interviews, Aaliyah confirmed Uche's claims, saying they dated for about a month after the pods, but shared that she was the one to end things.
"I had been told by some of the other cast members that he was saying some things to them, they had a group chat," Aaliyah told Love Is Blind alum Cameron Hamilton on his Hanging With the Hamiltons podcast. "I dunno, I've never seen it, but multiple people telling me, 'Aaliyah, this is what he said and you deserve more. You're a great person, you're real. You shouldn't have to chase after someone.'"
Aaliyah also alleges that Uche didn't find her physically attractive.
"I did try to ask him, 'What is it? I thought we had this connection. What is it?' I'mma be honest. I think he wasn't truly attracted to me as well," Aaliyah shared. "He mentioned that I wasn't his type, his ideal type, and that was kind of hurtful too. I didn't care how he looked."
Despite being hurt by her now-ex's response, Aaliyah said it gave her "clarity" to move on.
Aaliyah also said she spoke with Lydia after the show wrapped. And while they are no longer friends, Aaliyah said that Lydia did share her side of the story.
"She did reveal some things to me. I'm not sure I want to share it because that was her experience and I feel like there were some pretty private things there… to me it seems there's truth to both stories and then there's the truth in the middle there," she said of Lydia's past romance with Uche.
And while Uche presented their relationship as a three-month romance in 2020, Aaliyah said that the exes had an "on and off thing for two years."
Lydia has since moved on with contestant James Milton Johnson IV (a.k.a. Milton). The pair are currently engaged on the show and headed for the altar in this Friday's finale episode.
As for Aaliyah, she too has moved on in her romantic life. While appearing on fellow contestant Robert Martinez's Athletically Declined Sports podcast, Aaliyah is seen kissing her new man and gushes about him without naming him.
"I met him a couple months after I finished dealing with all that madness. The way this man just poured into me and loved me. He didn't care. He never judged anything I told him," she shared of her current boyfriend. "I'm in such a good place with who I'm with because I know it's real. I know it's genuine. It's the treatment I deserved all along."
As for where Aaliyah stands with Uche and Lydia today, she tells ET, "I feel like we just have a mutual respect that we both have conversations with each other where, you know, it was like, 'OK, we need to be open and honest about everything.' And I feel that that moment was reached with us on both sides with Uche and Lydia, and so I do respect them both. I wish them the best and I want them both to be happy. And I believe that they want that for me as well."
Love Is Blind season 5 is currently streaming on Netflix, with the wedding finale set to drop Friday, Oct. 13.
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