NEED TO KNOW
Love Island USA stars Iris Kendall and TJ Palma appear to be back together.
Iris, 25, seemingly confirmed her relationship with TJ — whom she initially dated early on in the seventh season of Love Island USA — via Instagram on Tuesday, Sept. 16. She did so by sharing photos of the pair showing off some PDA.
In the photos, Iris wore a red bustier with a matching red skirt and posed alongside TJ, dressed in a black suit jacket, shirt and pants. The pair was seen holding hands as they walked down a hallway and outside the doors to an event.
Other snaps showed Iris leaning over TJ as she placed a hand on his shoulder and another of the two posing close together as they checked their appearance in the mirror. In one picture, TJ could even be seen leaning his head on Iris’ shoulder as they sat down and took a break. Another shot captured the pair leaning into each other in an elevator.
The Hapa Blonde/GC Images
Iris captioned the photos simply with, “💌.”
The post comes after the pair was spotted walking hand-in-hand to the Luar fashion show during New York Fashion Week earlier this week. Iris wore a white cropped blazer with matching high-waisted shorts, while TJ wore the same outfit he appeared to be wearing in the photographs Iris shared on Instagram.
Last month, Iris and Pepe Garcia — whom she coupled up with towards the end of Love Island USA season 7 and entered the finals with — sparked breakup rumors after fans noticed that they both no longer follow each other on Instagram.
Iris also removed all of her posts that featured Pepe, 27, though he notably still kept posts featuring her up on his feed.
The reality star shared Instagram Stories seemingly hinting at a split. She shared a sunset photo and added a Fleetwood Mac song, “Silver Springs,” which was interpreted by many fans to be a hint about how she’s doing.
The song’s lyrics are famously about a breakup, written following Stevie Nicks’ tumultuous relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, which possibly provides insight into Iris’ current mindset.
Ben Symons/Peacock
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During the Love Island USA season 7 reunion on Aug. 25, the pair shared that they wanted to “be together and hang out together and just see what happens” now that they were out of the villa. Although they had discussed their future, they said that they weren’t putting a label on anything yet.
“I see dating as once you’re exclusive, you’re pretty much boyfriend and girlfriend,” Pepe said as Iris quipped, “I think you have to ask someone to be your girlfriend.”
When asked if she wanted to be Pepe’s girlfriend, Iris laughed and replied at the time, “Yeah, I feel like we’re going in a good direction.”
