Kendall Washington and Nicole Jacky officially called it quits after airing out their relationship drama during the season 6 reunion of Love Island USA.
Nicole announced the split on Tuesday, August 20.
“On August 18th, Kendall and I agree our relationship was worth working on, and we were making plans for me to visit him in Dallas soon. However, today, on August 20th, he called and ended things,” she wrote. “While I understand an respect his decision, it’s hard to process this one. I opened up to him in the villa, and still love and care for him now. I’m struggling mentally and all I ask for is privacy during this time.”
Kendall subsequently shared his own statement, confirming he was the one to end things because it was “not healthy” for the pair to continue a relationship. “I still love and care for Nicole. I’ve never developed such strong feelings for a woman in my life,” he wrote via Instagram Stories. “I have no regrets for the connection I made with her in the villa and it was real.” He concluded by asking viewers not to send any hate Nicole’s way.
Kendall and Nicole hit it off on season 6 of the Peacock reality dating series, finishing in fourth place and exchanging “I love yous” during the finale that aired in July. Later that month, the pair told Us Weekly that they planned to pursue a long-distance relationship outside of the show.
“It’s good that she lives in California because I have a lot of family there — my sister and my mom are in California. So it’s a win-win situation when I go there, I get to see Nicole and I also get to see my family,” Kendall, who resides in Dallas, said at the time. “I know my family eventually wants me to move back to California so my mom, specifically, is excited that Nicole is from there.”
Nicole subsequently raised eyebrows when she went quiet online. She eventually addressed her absence from the public eye in August. “While Love Island was an amazing experience, things have not been easy since leaving the villa,” she wrote. “There’s much more to share on what has happened since coming home, and for now, I’ve been taking time to process — these are real feelings and my real life.”
Later that month, Nicole and Kendall shared some details about their post-show issues at the reunion, which filmed on August 14 aired on Monday, August 19. “It’s been a bit tough on the outside,” Kendall explained. “Just trying to communicate —”
Nicole then chimed in to dispute Kendall’s side of the story. “Communicate? You have not been communicating,” she responded. “You never have been.”
When Kendall reasoned that they were trying to “give each other space,” Nicole replied, “After you lied to my face?”
The two then discussed the NSFW video of Kendall nude in a hotel room that leaked the same day that the finale aired.
“I just want to say something. Obviously, the video is not OK. Nobody deserves that. Everybody in this room can agree, it’s f—ked up,” Nicole said. “However, I think if you say you love somebody, in the moment, when you’re telling me about something you need to be honest. Instead of saying it’s from years ago to someone you trusted — an ex-girlfriend — and then I find out two days later from JaNa [Craig] that it was in the hotel room before you go on the show to someone on a dating app is crazy.”
Kendall had previously spoken out about the video via Instagram Stories, writing in July: “I just want to address the content that came out from my past. That was something I shared to someone in confidence and trust. It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer private but it is what it is.”
During the reunion, Nicole accused Kendall of not checking on her or defending her publicly as fans speculated about the video. When their castmates tried to support Kendall amid the drama, Nicole fired back.
“This just puts me in such a f—ked position because I care about you too and I love you and people are questioning that,” she noted at the time. “Even though you let the world think we’re not together, we’re still together.”
