Exclusive Interview
‘Love Is Blind’s Monica Reveals Shocking Reunion Moment That Tipped Her Off About Sara & Joey
Monica Danús just wants everyone to tell the truth. The Love Is Blind Season 8 cast member isn’t shying away from hard topics surrounding her love life.
The Minnesota native recently opened up to Elite Daily about Sara Carton and ex-fiancé Joey Leveille‘s relationship. Despite their denials, Monica revealed that Sara had confirmed to her that they were dating.
Monica spoke with Swooon about her current status with both Sara and Joey now that she’s shared her side of the story. Turns out Monica hasn’t heard from Joey at all since he reached out to her just before the reunion. Over a month ago, her friendship with Sara was in a good place, but the Joey situation has fractured their relationship. “She had been with him the same time when she was sitting on my couch telling me that she had my back,” Monica said.
Greg Gayne / Netflix
Below, Monica reveals Ben Mezzenga‘s (Sara’s ex) reaction to the news, the reunion moment you didn’t see that changed everything for her, and whether or not she and Sara could ever be friends again.
Have you heard from Sara since the Elite Daily interview came out?
Monica: Yes. She was just like, ‘Read the article. Think we should talk about this.’ And I’d answered back, ‘Respectfully, there’s nothing else I have to say. You weren’t a good friend to me, and I hope that you can learn to treat people better in the future.’ And just left it at that.
What about Ben? Have you heard from him about this?
Monica: Ben and I are friends. I’m good with Ben. I actually told Ben right after I heard from Sara about her and Joey. I called Ben immediately after because nobody told me. I knew if nobody told me, no one was telling him, so I thought he had a right to know because it’s part of his life, too. It was really hard for me to hear, so I’m sure it was going to be hard for him to hear, and the timing of it was three days before we all had to be in Austin together, so I didn’t want him to hear something through the grapevine when we’re at this event. That would be horrible. I called him immediately after, and I’m like, ‘Hey, Ben. I have some hard news, but I think you need to know this.’ He didn’t know specifically that they were together. He had heard rumors, and he was shocked and upset as well. But we’ve connected. We are friends. We’ve been good, but we have been supporting each other just because we’re kind of in the same boat.
How was it in Austin with everyone there?
Monica: It was definitely hard. I almost didn’t go because I heard this news, and it was shocking, and I was hurt. I’m like, how am I going to go to this event with everybody and be okay? But I ended up going, and I just told myself, ‘You need to just pull your energy away from other people. Do not give them the energy. They’re going to do what they’re going to do regardless of you. Focus on yourself, focus on people that you do care about who love you and support you, and just try to make the most of it.’ I’m really happy I went. I did just that. I put energy into meeting new people and just having fun. I just completely ignored them. It was a lot better than I thought. I actually had a great time, so I’m happy I went. But leading up to it was not fun.
Have you heard from Joey since the interview dropped?
Monica: No.
Courtesy of Netflix
Did you know about the dating rumors at the reunion?
Monica: I did not know. I knew that they were friends, and even that was a little uncomfortable for me because I guess, for me, if I was friends with somebody, I wouldn’t go and be friends with their exes that hurt them. That’s just how I would treat a friend, so I wouldn’t do that. I was uncomfortable that they were even friends, and I had told Sara that. Like, ‘We’re adults. I understand people gravitate towards people and friendships, and I’m trying to be okay with this, but just know that it is hard for me, and I’m working on being okay with it.’ I knew they were close, but then at the reunion, and it wasn’t aired actually, but Nick and Vanessa at the very end, they turned to Sara and said, ‘Hey, is anything going on with you and Joey?’ And I was shocked because that was the first time I had heard a question hinting at they were together, and it was at the reunion on camera. My heart sank. I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ And they denied it up and down. But it was awkward. You can tell that they were very uncomfortable, and that was kind of the start of me questioning things and putting two and two together.
I had a feeling. And then I heard that through the grapevine, and this was kind of the last piece that I’m like, ‘Okay, something is going on.’ I heard from the grapevine that they both stayed in California longer after the reunion and flew back together. That was like the last piece. So that’s when I texted her, and I’m like, ‘Please be up front with me,’ and that’s when we had the call, and she admitted to it. The timing was very hurtful, the lying and going behind my back was very hurtful, especially knowing that we were friends.
Why do you think they’re not going public at this point?
Monica: Honestly, I don’t know, because it’s so obvious now. It’s all out, so I have no idea why they’re not. I’m a firm believer in just telling the truth, especially now. It’s like, you guys got caught. Just own up to it. It’s kind of frustrating when they’re still lying about it. I don’t understand.
If Sara came to you and wanted to talk to you about everything, would you be open to that? Do you think you could ever get to a place where you could be friends again?
Monica: I think the timing of it all and how they went about this relationship, that was the hurtful part. I understand that they talked in the pods, and they formed a connection in the pods. I understand that there might have been something there. I personally would not have done that at all. For instance, with Ben, I would never have gone to Ben after this and been like, ‘Hey, do you want to try things out?’ Like, that’s just not right. I don’t find that respectful, but that’s my own views. But if they really, truly wanted to explore something, and I thought something was there, I feel like there’s a way to go about that, especially with with Sara and I being friends, I would have felt not disrespected. If she came to me before anything ever happened, and she had a hard conversation and said ‘Hey, this might be awkward. I feel like I could have potential feelings for Joey. I would like to explore it, but I wanted to tell you so you wouldn’t be blindsided.’
There’s a way to do it in a mature way and not in a hurtful way. We’ve been in this together, so we know how stressful it is and how emotional it is. With having the show come out and just life and emotions all watching the show back, it’s like you’re kind of reliving this whole relationship back again. The timing of it that they started this, whatever you want to call it, entanglement, when the show was airing, is really hurtful. Being secretive is really hurtful. Lying is really hurtful. How they went about all of it was the wrong way to do it, in my opinion, and was the most hurtful way to do it. But to answer your question, if they had done it in a more respectful way, it would have still hurt, but I wouldn’t have been as angry and betrayed as I’m feeling right now.
