Love Is Blind season three star Cole Barnett revealed that he’s been in “much needed” therapy since he’s finished filming the show.
The 27-year-old realtor, who found love with and was previously engaged to Zanab Jaffrey, opened up about his personal life during a Q&A session on his Instagram on Thursday. When a fan asked him what he’s “been working on since” he finished filming Love Is Blind, he shared details about his career and that he started going to therapy.
“I’ve been flipping houses, representing buys, and working on starting a podcast!” he wrote. “Oh and some much needed therapy.”
During the Q&A, another fan asked Barnett what the “best thing” is that he’s gained from therapy so far.
“The best thing I’ve gotten from therapy so far is honestly just how helpful it is to talk about the things that have impacted you or hurt you or were traumatising,” he said. “It’s not that there’s some grand thing that you need to learn, necessarily, there’s a lot of things you can learn.”
He further explained why therapy has been such an essential outlet for him, adding: “Sometimes as a guy you just don’t ever talk about emotions and feelings, you never do. So just sitting with someone and talking about those things in and of itself is freeing and liberating.”
Barnett’s ex-fiancée has also spoken out about their relationship and revealed that once filming for the show ended, she also went to therapy.
“After the wedding a year and a half ago, I went to therapy because I was like, ‘Help me. This is what’s happened. When I’m watching it and the world feels like they can comment on it, I want to be able to be in a good headspace for it,’” Jaffrey said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “So honestly, just space, avoiding men at all costs, and just taking time to level myself for this release.
During the season finale of Love Is Blind , Jaffrey said “I don’t” to Barnett at the altar and called him out for his insensitive behaviour, including critiquing her body throughout their relationship.
Seaking to USA Today last week about the failed wedding, Barnett noted that while he was “blindsided” by Jaffrey’s passionate speech, he’s not sure if he would have said “I do” to her after reflecting on the nuptials.
“I wanted to marry her so badly,” he explained. “If she would have said ‘yes,’ I really have a feeling I would have said ‘yes,’ too, because we had gotten to the best place in our relationship. But looking back now, it’s hard for me to say, seeing where she was at and how she was feeling. I was blindsided by the ‘no’ and the extent of the ‘no.’”
In the reunion episode, Jaffrey claimed that there was an instance where Barnett had once judged when she was peeling two clementines and asked her if she was going to eat both of them. The producers later showed the pair’s conversation at the end of the reunion, as it was initially not featured in the show, and it sparked mixed reactions.
After the reunion aired, Jaffrey took to Instagram to address some of the backlash she’d been facing and respond to some of the critics who claimed that she was exaggerating about how Barnett treated her.
“I’m sorry me standing up for myself, offended you so greatly,” she wrote. “I’m sorry you didn’t see all the reasons for what I said. I’m sorry you didn’t live that with me. I’m sorry that you don’t know me. I’m sorry your insecurities are different than my own. I’m sorry your online hate says so much more of you than it ever will of me.”
She also sent a message to Barnett, writing: “I fought for us until I couldn’t anymore. I know you know that. I know you know why I said what I said. I know you know what you did. It’s ok if you aren’t ready to talk about that yet.”
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly last week, Barnett addressed the reunion and how difficult it was for him to film it.
“I mean, the reunion was horrible,” he said. “I went into the reunion hoping for it to be a reunion of all of us coming back together after a year and a half of not being on the show, and us being able to be happy about the fact that we created something together and we did a show together, and speak more to the highlights of it. But it seemed like everyone really wanted to come and just lowlight everything.”
