Love Is Blind’s Paige Tillman on the Choice That Would’ve Likely Ended in Divorce and Which Guy She’s Glad She Nixed

Even after everything that happened with her ex-fiancé Josh Simmons, Paige Tillman would still “do it all over again.”

The Love is blind The Season 5 contestant opened up about finding love in the pods in an episode of The REAL TAWK podcast with Tommy Bracco, Anjelica Conti Vispisiano and Phil Bracco.

Although things ultimately didn’t work out with Simmons, Tillman said it’s “a good thing she didn’t hit it off” with Season 5 co-star Jared “JP” Pierce given his less-than-enthusiastic reaction to Makeup’s now ex-fiancé Taylor Rue when they first met way seen outside the capsule.

Paige Tillman from the fifth season of “Love is Blind”.

Paige Tillman/ Instagram

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“My eyelashes are bigger than my face and I have bronzer on [my cheeks,] and I had a big dress. He would hate it,” Tillman said of her appearance the day the couples came face-to-face.

“But it makes me sad because we girls just wanted to look so pretty. I mean, this is a lifetime moment for us and you want to look your best and feel your best,” she continued. “Taylor is one of the most beautiful women inside and out. So it makes me sad that this happened because we all tried so hard to look good for our significant other that day.”

Jared “JP” Pierce and Taylor Rue in “Love Is Blind” season five.

Monty Brinton/Netflix

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Fortunately, Tillman found love elsewhere with Simmons, although their story was not featured in Season 5. According to Tillman, the couple stayed together for five months after production ended and “probably would have gotten married” if they hadn’t prioritized their own needs and desires.

“If I wanted to stay in Texas, we probably would have gotten married, and I would have done it right away,” Tillman revealed on the podcast.

“We planned our wedding. I planned this big wedding. He wanted a big wedding. I didn’t and I intended to do it for him,” she said, noting that she wanted to “get married in court.”

“We’ve both always made compromises for each other, which seems to be the case in a relationship, but we just decided to go our separate ways,” Tillman added.

Although they were filmed for Season 5, Tillman said she and Simmons didn’t go to Mexico on a getaway with the other couples.

“If you had gone to Mexico, would you have gotten married?” Vispisiano asked on the podcast, to which Tillman confirmed: “Oh, we would get married on the show, 100%.”

However, she admitted that she was “actually thankful we didn’t go” to Mexico after their engagement, and went on to talk about the events that led to their split.

“I asked him before I finished, I said, ‘What do you want out of life?’ … and he just said, ‘Let’s get married and have kids.’ And I said, ‘Okay. I want a career… I want a big life and I want to give it to myself,'” she explained. “And I didn’t want to take him away from his life and his family and his friends.”

“We were talking about it recently and I said, ‘It would be so unfair to ask you to move with me for work, for career because I wanted to be in LA because there’s not a lot in Texas for what I do creative direction-wise, ” Tillman continued. “So it wouldn’t be fair to make him do that for me. I would never want him to compromise his life or what he wants for me. And I think it was the same situation. He didn’t want me to give up on my dreams .”

Paige Tillman and Josh Simmons from season five of “Love Is Blind.”

Paige Tillmam/Instagram

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“When I said we wanted different things out of life, we really did,” Tillman added. “I didn’t want to take anything from him. He didn’t take anything from me. [Simmons said,] ‘You will always want to do what you want. And I said, ‘Yeah, you’re right and you’ll always want to be in Texas and with your family and that’s fine.'”

Despite the end of their relationship, Tillman said the breakup itself was “really beautiful” and the two remain “close” to this day.

“It’s really cool that we have each other and we can still, to this day, say, ‘Yeah, I’d do it all over again.’ And it’s so true,” Tillman said. “We’re very grateful Love is blind for bringing us together because I would never have met him if he hadn’t.”

Tillman and Simmons revealed in a joint Instagram post earlier this month that they “fell deeply in love” and got engaged on the hit Netflix series, but eventually “realized we just wanted different things out of life.”

“We have made the most difficult decision to end our engagement, we have nothing but love and respect for each other and always will,” the couple wrote. “We are so grateful that LIB brought us together and we would do it all again if we could 🤍.”

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The first nine episodes Love is blind season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. The season finale will be on Friday, October 13, followed by a reunion on Sunday, October 15.

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Source: HIS Education