Interview
‘Love Is Blind’: Monica Shares the Backstory on Stephen’s ‘Emotional Cheating’ Scandal
The wedding bells were ringing in the background for Monica Davis and Stephen Richardson as they continued to make plans to head to the altar. But the Love Is Blind couple had to deal with a major hurdle that wasn’t really that expected: Stephen’s slew of explicit texts.
And, no, those were not sent to Monica but to another woman while he was at a “sleep test.” He claimed to be inebriated when the exchange started. In Stephen’s messages, a kink-heavy conversation transpired, and Monica revealed to Swooon that Stephen’s texting partner was someone he already knew beforehand. Monica went on to further explain, “Every interaction we had, this person was on his mind in some way, in his back pocket, in some way.”
This was, however, not the first time that Stephen had made this kind of mistake. In the pods, he disclosed his past with Monica in a bout of honesty. Having been shocked by the information in the beginning, the 37-year-old tech salesperson lauded her match for taking accountability and even called the revelation just a “yellow flag.”
“I have a track record with cheaters, a lot of them, and the dishonesty is the hard part,” Monica shared as to why she didn’t write Stephen off immediately after his confession in the pods.
Monica was left devastated that he did it again, this time to her. “I just didn’t expect it. I was so taken aback, caught off guard, would never have seen it coming,” she stated. Thinking back on that moment, she further clarified, “I don’t regret forgiving him and giving the relationship a shot, but yeah, I was really caught off guard when it ended up happening, the same exact thing to me.”
Furthermore, she is clear in her definitions of cheating. “I consider sexting emotionally cheating. Yeah, absolutely,” she declared. Stephen’s scandal changed her entire look on their relationship, “I was heartbroken,” she admitted. “This is a person that I really loved and was planning a future with. And I trusted him more than anything.”
Previously having been with people who cheated on her, this was an experience Monica didn’t want to face again. “I’m really proud of how I handled myself,” she said.
She also wanted to clarify a statement that she had made on the show that caused some confusion. The line in question: “I’ve always found a way to practice forgiveness.” During her conversation with Swooon, she said that “doesn’t necessarily mean that you stay in the relationship. It could mean you do.” As for how she approached this mentality with her fiancé, Monica said, “I needed space. I didn’t make any decisions in that moment. I took the time for myself.”
Love Is Blind, Season 7, Episodes 10-11, October 16, Netflix
Love Is Blind, Season 7, Episodes 12, October 23, Netflix
