Milton from ‘Love is Blind’ reflects on fiancée Lydia’s past with Uche
Milton Johnson from Netflix’s “Love is Blind” opened up about his relationship with fiancée Lydia and why he loves that they’re so “different.”
Spoiler alert: The following contains details from Netflix’s “Love is Blind” Season 5 finale and reunion.
Want to see what happens when a bunch of exes gather in a room with cameras?
That was the premise of the “Love is Blind” Season 5 reunion, which dropped Sunday night on Netflix. Of the couples who pursued relationships outside of the pods, only one pair said “yes” at the altar: James Milton Johnson IV (aka Milton) and Lydia Velez Gonzalez.
The triumphant (“happily”) married couple was joined in the studio by fellow castmates Stacy Snyder and Izzy Zapata, Chris Fox and Johnie Maraist, Taylor Rue and Jared Pierce (aka JP), and Aaliyah Cosby (sans Uche Okoroha) to rehash the drama they wrought on the city of Houston 18 months ago, which Netflix viewers just saw unfold over the course of 10 episodes over four weeks.
During the 67-minute reunion special, it was clear that emotions still ran high for some folks, even if everyone had moved on to new romantic endeavors.
Here’s how each of the “Love is Blind” Season 5 couples ended up, as well as the answers to some of the season’s biggest questions.
Lydia and Milton are still married
They got married in the season finale, but did the geologist and petroleum engineer’s relationship survive their first year of marriage?
“Yes, we are happily married,” Lydia announces.
Apparently, marriage was so nice they did it twice: The couple shared bits of footage from their second wedding in Lydia’s home, Puerto Rico.
Though viewers saw Milton’s family’s skepticism about his readiness to get married in his mid-20s, the Johnsons have since changed their tune. Lydia is “a little too close” to his mom, Milton says, and has made his parents “so soft” since joining the family.
Milton from “Love is Blind”: Uche’s claims about Lydia “had no weight on my relationship”
Izzy and Stacy broke up
The only other couple who made it to the altar, Izzy and Stacy, didn’t exchange “I dos.”
Now, they are happily in relationships with other partners. Put on the spot at the reunion about saying “no” at the altar, Stacy revealed as she choked up that “I wanted to give him a yes.”
After that fateful day, the two took a week apart before discussing how they could go forward. After Stacy told Izzy that she wasn’t interested in resuming their previous relationship — “I felt like we needed to start over,” she explains — Izzy became “so upset” that he didn’t talk to her for a year. That’s when they ran into each other at a bar, and they talked things out.
They now have “such a great friendship,” Izzy says, calling them “bros.” They’re both seeing other people now.
Chris left Johnie shortly after the barbecue party
The last time we saw Johnie and Chris, they seemed to be going strong at the cast barbecue party as they argued with Izzy and Stacy about whether Johnie was “fake.”
As it turns out, that was also one of the last times the two saw each other. They’re no longer together after Chris pursued another relationship without letting Johnie know that the relationship was over. “It doesn’t always end in fairy tale, and it just didn’t work out the way one would want,” Chris says.
Johnie says she didn’t hear from Chris for two weeks following the barbecue, then learned through a friend that he was seeing another woman. Chris says he didn’t handle it “properly” and “knew I was wrong.” Though he fell in love with Johnie and still cares for her, he’s happy now and living with a new partner.
Uche and Aaliyah tried dating after ‘Love is Blind’
Aaliyah is in a “beautiful, loving” relationship now — but not with Uche, with whom she tried to smooth things over after they left the pods separately. Uche didn’t show up to the reunion to have his day in court, so to speak; Nick Lachey says the Houston-based attorney was invited to the taping.
Aaliyah says they tried to date after filming. “I don’t think I was his type, ultimately. He had mentioned to a few people that were part of the cast I wasn’t the type of woman he normally found attractive,” she says, adding that she didn’t want to “chase a relationship with anyone.
“His tone with me was so very mean and kind of condescending,” Aaliyah says.
Hear from Aaliyah: She explains why she left Uche, where she stands with Lydia
JP apologizes to Taylor, says he was ‘so nervous’ around cameras
JP and Taylor took their relationship out of the pods, but their engagement didn’t survive after the first week.
This was due to a breakdown in communication between the two that erupted into an argument over Taylor’s appearance when they first met. In Episode 6, JP says Taylor had a “caked-up face (and) fake eyelashes” and “felt like you were fake.”
Watching this episode “was not fun,” JP admits at the reunion — the first time they’ve seen each other since their breakup. “I don’t think that he was attracted to me from the second that we met,” Taylor says.
JP describes seeing her for the first time as “shocking and off-putting” and again apologizes for his comments: “I genuinely wanted to let you know that you look beautiful without makeup, and it came out wrong and I’m sorry.”
Hear from Taylor: She confesses JP’s comments about her makeup were “hurtful”
Did Lydia come on ‘Love is Blind’ for Uche?
It wasn’t hosts Vanessa and Nick Lachey who asked what’s arguably the most pressing question of the season.
Aaliyah, who almost got engaged to Uche before leaving the “experiment” following the reveal that Uche and close friend Lydia had previously dated, asked Lydia whether she came on “Love is Blind” simply to pursue Uche.
Lydia shut down Aaliyah — and many fans’ — theory about her motivations. “I had no confirmation that Uche was going to be there” she says. “If I had that power, he would not have been there, 100%.”
But Lydia admits she and Uche briefly discussed “Love is Blind” before they were cast on the show. In a conversation that lasted “two seconds” in November 2021, the former couple made a passing reference to seeing the casting call, she says.
Nick Lachey reiterates what creator Chris Coelen has said in recent interviews: that producers didn’t know about Lydia and Uche’s past. The two were almost eliminated from the cast when their dating history came to light, but were allowed to stay due to their assurance that they did not want to date each other.
Did Izzy and Johnie get back together after the show?
At one point, Izzy was Johnie’s No. 1 choice for a fiancé. Then he broke up with her for Stacy, and Johnie pursued a relationship with Chris. Things between them soured further when Izzy insisted during the barbecue that Johnie was “sketchy” for how she handled her two romantic connections in the pods.
“My delivery was horrible. That is not me. That was way out of character,” Izzy tells Johnie at the reunion, noting that he doesn’t apologize for saying “the truth” at the barbecue.
Perhaps surprisingly, Johnie and Izzy tested the waters after the show. They reconnected at a bar during a cast outing shortly after Izzy and Stacy broke up and hashed out their issues. Although they kissed, things never went further, they say.
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