Love Is Blind's Danielle Ruhl Opens Up About 'Raw' Days After Divorce Announcement with Nick Thompson (2024)

Love Is Blind's Danielle Ruhl is opening up about the aftermath of her split from husband Nick Thompson.

The reality star, who met her husband on season 2 of the Netflix dating series, revealed that there wasn't a single catalyst which led to her filing for divorce in August.

"Everyone's wanting some sort of big story when that wasn't necessarily the case," Danielle told E! News. "It was hard to speak about it at first because of how raw the emotions were and still are. But also, it's not that interesting of a story. It was just two people decided that it was best to go their separate ways."

"There was no catastrophe that had happened," she added. "And a lot of people had also assumed that there was some sort of incentive for the couples to stay together for a year and that wasn't the case."

Danielle, 29, denied that she and Nick were "faking anything" for the show, explaining, "We didn't stay together for a year because it was fake—we truly love each other, and that's why this breakup was incredibly hard, it's why it's taken us so long to talk about it," she explained. "But again, like it's you have to think about the fact that it was a while ago."

She believes that fans did not see the whole picture when watching After the Altar special, which premiered in mid-September shortly after their split was made public.

"The one thing that I get asked about a lot is like, 'Oh, you guys seem so perfect during After the Altar," she said. "But I think it's also important to remember that was filmed in March. And just because we were going [until] March doesn't mean that we necessarily didn't have certain difficulties leading up until, when we decided to end the relationship."

Danielle admitted that it was hard to watch the special in the wake of her and Nick's breakup.

"Obviously, breakups are hard," she shared. "They're always going to be hard. It's been a pretty difficult time and then re-watching After the Altar just kind of adds an additional element of feelings to everything. There's ups and downs. You just have to ride the wave."

Despite their breakup, Danielle still called Nick "a great guy." She said, "Just because it didn't work out like in the way that we had hoped, I would love to be friends in the future."

"I think it's a little bit raw right now," she added. "So, it's kind of difficult, but we went through something that no one else in the world has."

As for finding another special someone, Danielle said she is not quite ready to jump back in the dating pool, explaining, "I don't think I'll be ready to date anytime soon. It takes me a long time to get over people. We're still going through the divorce process. Dating is not in my near-term feature right now."

Earlier this month, the exes addressed their split in separate Instagram posts.

"The future is bright and I'm hopeful my next chapter will be the best one yet," Danielle wrote in part. "I'll always care about Nick and appreciate our time together. As a wise woman said - choose yourself."

Nick shared that he was "heartbroken" over the end of their marriage, adding, "I know in my heart that I did the best I could and gave it everything I had. I'm optimistic for the future."

Danielle filed for divorce in August via the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. The split came the same week that the only other married couple from Love Is Blind's second season, Iyanna McNeely and Jarette Jones, announced their divorce.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Love Is Blind will return for season 3 Oct. 19 on Netflix.