‘Love Is Blind’s’ Lauren O’Brien on Being ‘Slut-Shamed’ for Past Romance

• Lauren O’Brien and David Bettenburg got engaged during Love Is Blind season 8 before they saw each other
• Dave called off the engagement after learning Lauren was dating a man before joining the show, although she said the relationship wasn’t serious
• Lauren told Not Skinny But Not Fat host Amanda Hirsch she was surprised by how her relationship with Dave ended

Love Is Blind star Lauren O’Brien is sounding off on how she was “slut-shamed” for having dated someone before filming the reality show, saying she “didn’t understand why it mattered” to David “Dave” Bettenburg, who ultimately ended their engagement because of it.

Dave, 33, and Lauren, 32, met in the pods on season 8 of the Netflix reality series after Dave proposed to Lauren, sight unseen. Things seemed to be going well until it was revealed that Lauren had been seeing a man before she joined the show — and Dave’s close friends and family happened to know the guy. Though Lauren insisted the relationship was never serious, Dave began questioning her intentions and wondered if she was ready to become a wife. They ultimately called it quits in episode 11.

On the Tuesday, March 25, episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Lauren said she was blindsided by the demise of their relationship, since Dave previously told her, “I don’t really give a s— who you slept with.”

“I’m the bad guy in this situation. I’m the one that’s gonna sit here and defend myself for being the Minneapolis w—- in on national television. And I’m willing to do that,” Lauren told host Amanda Hirsch, adding that she “just didn’t understand why it mattered.”

Lauren said she doesn’t think Dave is a “malicious person.”

“I do think that deep down, he is a good person who was trying to do his best,” she said. “I think where he was lacking is putting his ego down, the emotional maturity, being able to be fully ready for an actual mature romantic relationship.” 

Dave previously told PEOPLE he learned about Lauren’s relationship before the show from his close college friends, who knew the guy Lauren had been seeing before she joined the series. They said he and Lauren had been dating for three months and that she had been staying at his place prior to filming the show.

Dave’s sister also knew the best friend of the guy Lauren previously had been seeing.

“I am hearing all these things and I’m just like, there’s just no way I’m going to marry this person if that’s what she was doing coming into it,” Dave said. “I just can’t justify that.”

But as Lauren said on the podcast, “I did feel a little-slut shamed because I’m like, I think it’s BS if you’re gonna sit here and tell me you haven’t slept with someone in the past six months because you’ve been having casting conversations with Love Is Blind.”

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As for the relationship, Lauren said, “I do think that there was love there … I could tell that he was genuinely struggling with how to tackle all of this information.” But, she said, “I don’t think he loved me enough to put me above the ego.”

“There was love there, just not enough.”

Love Is Blind season 8 is now streaming on Netflix.