NEED TO KNOW
Amaya Espinal is speaking out about her split from Bryan Arenales.
Amid speculation that the Love Island USA season 7 winners broke up, Amaya took to her Instagram Story to confirm the news on Wednesday, Aug. 27. She shared a statement explaining what led to the decision to go their separate ways.
“My papayas – Bryan and I are no longer together,” she wrote to her fans. “After leaving the villa, it became very clear that we were on two different journeys. Our visions didn’t align and relationships are supposed to be a team sport. You don’t have to drink the whole sea to know it’s salty. All love here and I truly wish him the best. – Amaya Papaya”
Amaya Espinal/instgram
Around the same time that she shared the statement, Amaya indicated that Bryan was the one who ended things.
Amaya hinted at more details for the split in a comment she left on a TikTok of a girl calling Bryan out for being out at a club, flirting with other women.
“Imagine being broken up with just to come on TikTok a couple hours later already in distraught to see that he’s in Miami two hours later doing the exact things you told him hurts your feelings,” she wrote.
She also reposted another video from the same account, where the creator called Bryan’s behavior “embarrassing” and said she was “so glad that his true colors are showing now.”
Bryan posted his own statement hours later on his Instagram Story.
“As many of you already know, Amaya and I have decided to go our separate ways,” it read. “Unfortunately, we were not on the same page and that is okay. We have both gained clarity that we are on different paths right now. I am thankful for the time we have spent together and I wish her nothing but the best moving forward. 🖤”
Bryan Arenales/Instagram
This comes two days after fans noticed that the couple unfollowed each other on Instagram.
Amaya’s TikTok activity also pointed to her headspace at the time, with recent reposts about feeling “disappointed but not surprised,” as well as an edit featuring Kerry Washington on Scandal that said, “When I finally pick myself back up and never let my walls down like that again.”
During the Love Island reunion special that aired later that night, Amaya and Bryan addressed past rumors that he had cheated on her following their exit from the Fiji villa in July.
“They’re trying to just throw any hate my way,” he said of the allegations, while Amaya laughed.
Bryan claimed that a video capturing him with other women at a bar was taken out of context.
“The hosting, I got paid to be there,” he said of an event where the recording was taken. “I used to bartend back in the day. I had a lapse in judgement, and we’ve talked about it.”
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Ben Symons/Peacock
Host Andy Cohen then pressed Bryan about what that “lapse in judgement” was.
To that, Bryan replied, “pouring shots around, getting the crowd shots and stuff like that.”
“And I’m also not a woman that would be with someone who doesn’t respect me,” Amaya added. “So if I’m with him and still with him currently, it’s because the relationship dynamic is healthy and great.”
Bryan previously shut down rumors of a split on social media, calling them “lies.”
“That’s absolutely not true,” Bryan wrote in a comment on a fan page’s post about them breaking up at the end of July.
He doubled down in a second comment, writing that they were still “together and spending time with family and friends.”
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Love Island USA is available to stream on Peacock.
