April 7, 2020 • 34 mins
It's Diamond's turn to share her side of the story and she reveals all to Giannina. She explains what really happened during her relationship with Carlton, seeing him again at the reunion, and other relationships she was interested in pursuing. Find out if she regrets the Love is Blind experiment and why she doesn't wear Carlton's friendship ring.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Lovin Science. This is our Diamond in the
Rough show. We are going to hear from Diamond, one
half of the Carlton Diamond couple from the Love Is
Blind Show. Ge and Nina is with me. I'm Matt
money Smith. She good to be back with you again.
Get to be with you Money the one thing that
that UM, just to get right into it before Diamond
joins us. Um, you know she's a dancer for a
(00:31):
basketball team. Um. The job titles were interesting because yours
was business owner. We got into that you partnered with
a friend and you guys were trying to grow your
own business. When you went on the show, Damien's just
said like general manager. Everything was very bland. So when
you guys are talking and and you're in the facility
before you start meeting with the guys and you're bonding
with the girls. UM did anything like when when Diamond
(00:54):
says I danced for a basketball team, I've got how
many Like what's the follow up there? That's that's an
interesting fashion. I mean we were just really excited. We're like,
you're so dope, like KNT just some moves and what's
actually funny? And we talked about it all the time.
We're like, I can't believe they didn't show that is
me And I think it was Amber. Uh. We had
like a little dance off with diamonds. She taught us
(01:16):
like a little like a little set um and they
filmed it in the lounge and we were just having fun.
We probably had a couple of drinks and um, she
was great. She definitely knew how to move and just
kind of like maybe she was the life of the party.
I'd say, what were your what were your first impressions
of her? Beyond she knew how to move, you know,
like what kind of person because you know, we think
(01:36):
we know him, but what can you share with us,
like shed some lights some insight here? When I saw her,
I thought, you know, she was really cute. Um, she
had she was like very confident, but she was also
a little shy. I think I think we all were.
We were just like not knowing what to expect. So
I just kind of feeling everybody out. I can tell
that she's like a very like intuitive person and she
(01:57):
was trying to see like okay, like do I like
these girls? Um? And I think she did right. The
When you watch the episode and you see and we'll
get into this with Diamond here in a minute. But
when you see the engagement, I mean that was she
was probably like the most emotional of of all of
the cast. I mean, you know, she kind of collapses
into the corner of the couch, buries her head and
just starts crying uncontrollably. Was there anything that you might
(02:21):
have gathered from her that you talked to her about
that that maybe or maybe you can share with us,
like how emotional it is in there, because it just
seemed like it really was something overwhelming. Um. And she
kept saying, I've never had these feelings, never experienced anything
like this before. Yeah, I think you know, we all
we all felt I thought, um point on. You know,
(02:42):
at different times I would come back from a date
and I would be like super excited and like kitty,
and you know, there would be someone crying on the
couch mm hmmm pretty much every day, and whether it
would be a good cry or a hard cry, it's
because there was a lot of release happening in in
this experiment. Um. And what I say when I mean,
(03:03):
what I mean when I say that is, you know
we were able to fully just take down every single
wall ironically enough, and um, and just share the deepest, darkest,
saddest things because we wanted this person to know who
we were and why we are the way that we are,
and so you kind of relive these really intimate moments. Um.
(03:25):
And I think there's a lot of fear of it too,
because you know, someone says, okay, like I feel for
you or I love you, but then you kind of
go back and you're like, I hope that they you know,
I hope that they do love me. Like what if
they go and change your mind? So, like just speaking
to that, um, did you were you like dismissed by anybody?
Like did you find yourself just you put them high
(03:46):
on the list and then somehow you guys didn't get
matched up, and you're like that person must have put
me really low on the list. Yeah, Um, I think well,
I think I mentioned this earlier. Me and Barnett just
kind of like trickled away from each other like at
the like mutually mutually. Yeah. So he was like my
number one for like the first two days and then
he was like my number seven like after that. Right,
(04:08):
So the first two days you're with him, you go
on dates with him, yes, and then that was it. Yeah,
and then that was that was pretty much it. We
the next couple of days we were just like, oh, hi,
what's up. And we've talked about Taylor, talked about Taylor.
Did he break from you or did you break from him?
So we he was my number two throughout the whole experience. Um,
and I think he so he developed feelings for me,
(04:32):
and also he developed feelings for Jessica, but I only
saw him as a friend. And um, I think because
he heard that I had chosen Damien, he was like,
all right, I'm done here. Um. So he heard that
Damien was your number one, yes, and then that was
and that was that. So then he okay, because I
guess what I'm getting at is you mentioned girls around
(04:55):
the couch crying. You know, whether that's good or bad?
Is that because they thought they were going to go
to the pod and there was nobody there? Or was it?
Is that? Is that how it was? Or was it
more they were in the pod and the guy was like, Hey,
I just want to tell you. You know, I guess
through the wall, not face to face, but voice to
voice that I'm out. Well, I don't know, I think
Elsie got the biggest you know shock of them all
(05:18):
because she made it all the way through the end
and was waiting to hear whether Barnett was choosing her amber.
So when she was crying, it was you know, more
of a rejection cry. Um. But you know, we wouldn't
really cry because we didn't get to see that person.
There was more just more anxiety, uh, and just like
excitement like Okay, he wasn't my first date, but he's
(05:40):
gonna be my third, he's gonna be my fourth, Like
what's going on? You know? We would just we would
you know, be freaking out and like shaking in our
boots because we wanted to see her number one. Um.
But as far as like crying, it was more because
of like this overwhelming happy cry like oh my god,
I can't believe this is happening to me, or like
I just shared something so hard and like I'm reliving
(06:01):
this all over again. Um. The rejection cries I think
were more from Brianna and Elsie. What about Damien as
far as the other girls win, did they have him
as a one or a two or who else who
else had him? Um? I think from what I've gathered,
they wouldn't tell you. I have found out later, um
(06:21):
that Amber and Lexi were like vibing with him Amber
in the beginning, and again Lexi is Lexi skips. She
got actually engaged to Wesley Bear. Okay, yeah, so short guy, Wesley,
your former roommate Lexi were. Are they still together? I
don't think so. Okay, so they're not together, but they
actually okay, they actually get engaged Wesley. Was he ever
(06:44):
on your list or no? Um, he was like maybe
like my number seven? Yeah, I side tracked you, all right,
So go back to where you were there. So with yeah,
with anyone that was interested in Damian, I didn't know,
but it was until like later, like way later than
it apparently like Lexie tried to talk to Damien after
she knew that I was in. Is that why you
(07:05):
kicked her out of your room? I didn't kick her out?
What I mean? You said you had two roommates you
started with Legure. Yeah, well you know they switched surround?
Is that what it was? Beat it? No, not at all.
I loved her. I was just very you know, we've
actually became really great friends. Um, and I understand exactly
why someone would shoot their shot you know, because it's
(07:26):
this might be the love of your life. You you
don't want to you know, you're fighting for your love. Um.
I just happened to win any any arguments. Did you
argue with anybody? I did not? Um. I again, I
was the peacemaker. When people would come to me and
say like, oh, like, I haven't I have an issue
with this person? I would be like, while, let's talk
(07:48):
it out, Like why do you have an issue? Well,
because she likes my guy. It's like we all like
each other's guys, so like, let's let's try to get
the core of it right. Well, I mean, if they
wanted to fight, it's like, okay, you go fight over there. Like,
I am not here to make friends or enemies. I
am here to find the love of my life. And
I so if I so happen to make a great friend, awesome.
(08:08):
If someone wants to start a fight with me, like
I will lay you out, but I also will try
to avoid that so sweetly. All right, that's a perfect
spot for us to take a quick break. When we returned,
Diamond will join us next. All right, you always said
(08:31):
it right before the break, and now she is kind
enough to join us Diamond from Love is Blindness on
the phone, Diamond, how you doing. I'm doing great, this
beautiful Sunday morning. How are you guys doing well? Happy
to do now? Oh we're well, yeah, it's morning. I
think maybe a little more morning than afternoon for us.
But the last we saw you was was on the reunion.
But we're obviously going to go back a little bit
(08:53):
before that, and I even want to get to before
you're with Carlton and stuff. Just maybe walk us through
how you got cast, um, and what your impressions were
of the show, kind of once you you showed up
and you figured out exactly what it was you got
yourself into. Yeah, so I actually how I got cast
was through a flyer. Um. I noticed a flyer and
my coach actually was the one who sent it to
(09:15):
a lot of us girls. You know. I was on
the NBA team and she sent it to us, and
I was at first I was hesitant, but then I
was like, let me try and see. So I sent
in all my information and I had a couple of
phone interviews and skype interviews and leading up to here,
I was picked to be on the show. Um, And
(09:35):
what was your other question? Sorry? My question is like,
what did you what did you think you were getting
yourself into. Was it a show? Was it actually seeking
someone who could potentially be your husband? Like? What what
were you thinking was gonna happen when you decided to
do this? Um? So what I was thinking, I was
actually thinking to find love. You know. The producers and
(09:56):
everyone explained the experiment and explained you know, legist of
how you know, it's kind of blind dating, but in
a different way, and it really it really made me interested.
I was really like blown away by the process and
I was like, Wow, this is something I really would
like to try to do because you know, living in Atlanta,
I find it very hard to find someone in date
(10:18):
and it's not a really easy easy task here. So
when they explained that to me, when yeah, right, when
they splayed that to me, I was all for it
and I was there to find the love of my life.
In terms of um, We've heard from a number of
different cast mates and they all described the pods and
and it sounds very intense. How would you describe it, Um,
(10:39):
I'll definitely say it was powerful. You know, it's something
that you know, you don't do every day. So so
even I was like, walking in there, I didn't know
what to expect. I didn't know how the how was
gonna the outcome was gonna be. I never thought like
I was gonna find love or you know, fall for
someone as much as I did for Call To And
(11:00):
when that happened, I was really excited and um, I
love how we were able to share and be open
with each other and share, you know, everything that we
wanted to talk about. It. They gave us the time
to disclose so much information and really get to know
that person and fall in love with that person. What
do you think about when you when you walked in
there for the first time you saw all of us,
girls were like, oh, this is my competition or No.
(11:24):
I didn't feel that way. No. I was just walking
around looking at like how beautiful the setup was there.
You know, I was like, Wow, this is really happy.
Why this is beautiful? And all those girls, you know,
we were all somehow we formed a bond, like right away.
I never felt like I had to compete with her
her her, you know, I thought we all were beautiful
and I felt like we all clearly had something special
(11:46):
about us to be cast for the show. So something
stood out that the producers love two castles for the show,
and I was just hoping that when our dates would
see that as well. So we uh, I've already established
with g that was super creepy. John. Damn I keep
getting his name out. Yes, can you share a John
story with us, Diamond? I can't remember our dates to
(12:09):
be that's I think that's how insignificant. But like it
wasn't really like that. I think I had already marked
him off or because we got su chance to like
number our date from my top to bottom, and I
don't know, he never wasn't like my top five. So
he said he was always fifteen. He's a bad person.
He's a bad person or anything, but he's just he
(12:30):
didn't really stand out as in talking like our conversation
wasn't like on point or you know, we loved it.
One of the one of the clips that obviously it
was very popular was you and Barnett and Barnette saying
that your name sounded like a stripper. So how how
quickly were you turned off by Barnett? Was that all
kind of just a little bit that we were to
(12:50):
see or was there something else to that conversation that
maybe uh, led you to either like or not like him. No,
Barnett is a very cool person, as you see. I
could just I just saw through his little his suave,
like you're just being so like, you know, hey girl, hey,
And I could just tell that, you know, he was
smooth and trying to, like, you know, talk to everybody.
But he's not the first person I ever said that
(13:12):
associated my name would being a stripper, like I get
it all the time, live in Atlanta, and then to
be a professional dancer. People always mixed the two for
some reason. But yeah, all right, I just okay, But
I think Diamond lost this meeting, you know, Diamond actually
meeting something way more powerful and bigger than you know,
being related to a dancer. But yeah, Barnett was a
(13:33):
really good guy. I don't have anything fast to say
about him. Um, I feel like we just knew right
off that this just wasn't gonna work, and I just
I was just separating myself, especially when I heard other
girls just fall in love with him so fast and
like really enjoying him. I was like, oh, no, that's
Mr over there. I know that we we were, you know, obviously,
(13:54):
you know, in the same spot, and you taught me
how to dance. You taught me a cute dancer. Um,
But I you know, I don't feel like we had
like deep conversations, so like who who was like your
confidant in the lounge? Mm hmm my deep conversation? Are you?
Are you getting interviewed too? Are you just interviewed everyone too?
(14:17):
I'm interviewing everyone too. Oh my good jew, it's been fun.
I'm sorry to just get thrown away off that. But
besides Carlton, um, I had really made good connections with
other people. Um, like one, I felt Mark and I
had really good conversation. We had a lot of similarities,
(14:38):
and but we already knew because I was actually cool
with Jessica in the house. You know, everybody's going to
be like you know, but I was really great. Yeah,
she was really sweet. Besides um everything else that happened
on the show, but with our friendship, we were really cool.
And she used to always tell me about Mark and
how she really likes them. So I kind of separate
(14:59):
myself from and she's starting to like Mark. Hold On, hey, Diamond,
I'm gonna jump in there because I gotta ask you
because this is this is repeatedly, this is now happened.
It's just someone who watched the show. Jessica was not great.
Jessica was a complete nightmare. Um, yet every cast member
is like, no, you got it wrong. So what I'm
starting to come to figure is Amber and nightmare. Did
(15:20):
we get that wrong? Is that No? No, Amber's my nightmare.
Amber knows what she wants and she clearly tells the
whole world that, look, this is not this is who
I want. This is who I am, and this is
who I want and if you like it, oh well
kick rocks. Like that's Amber's attitude. Jest's attitude is not
like that. Jess is more sincere. She like she was
(15:40):
falling in love. Like I think people confusing experiment, like
although she would fall in love with Market, it's okay
to start liking Barnett, like we're all were going on dates,
we're all trying to meet our number one. I really
feel like people need to understand that because she liked Market,
because she like Barnett doesn't make her a bad person.
Now when it comes down to other things that happened
later on the show, I don't I would not agree
(16:01):
with how she handled that, but at the same time,
she wants to find this is the one you got
to spend the rest of your life with, Like you
want to make sure you pick the right person. So
how were you and Carlton able to say like, hey,
wedding's off, we're done, We're not going to be a
part of this anymore. Like how did that come about? Um?
At the pool scene, we're talking, Yeah, that's where it
really all went down. I don't feel like when I
(16:23):
left the first time, when he exposed his bisex being bisexual,
I don't feel like I was completely like, no, this
is not it, this is not gonna work for me,
because I felt like if that was the case, I
would have said it right then and there and we
would never had another scene. I would have been like,
this is not for me. You know, enjoy your life.
I'm enjoy mind, have a nice day. But I did not.
I wanted to, you know, talk to him and get
(16:45):
some questions answered. And I feel like that's why I
was trying to do at the other pool things, the
one that the big the big blew up happened, and um,
as you see, it escalated, and I feel like it
was more me who was like I'm done versus him
because I gave him his ring back and I felt
that triggered other emotions for causing and led him to,
(17:05):
you know, get very defensive. He Uh. We talked to
Carlton and he told us that there were some things
we didn't see that led to that, and I feel
it's it's only fair for us to kind of point
that out to you so you can He suggested that
maybe you said some things that that set off some
of those triggers. Um, what can you share with us
that you're comfortable sharing with us about that conversation. I mean,
(17:29):
that conversation was very hard to even approach, you know,
because you know, you don't want to say the wrong
things or you don't want it to be miss taking
the wrong way. Carson, how everything had happened is pretty
much what happened. I didn't come in there arguing with him,
putting my finger in his face or anything like that.
I actually came calm, and I was relaxed and was
trying to stay in control of the situation. When he
(17:50):
started making his own verbal comments and saying things and
not understand it. I even said it, you're not understanding,
and he was just shutting me out, and I don't
feel like I have there's nothing that he's trying to
paint a picture or try to say. I know we
did get the heated arguments, so things might have gotten cut,
but for him to say that other things that tricker
(18:10):
him off, that I was saying homophobic biophobic slurs, like
he was also saying bad stuff as well. So for
him to try to just throw things like almost playing
the victim again in which I called him out then
like you're playing a victim instead of like just owning
up and saying I'm sorry and we can move past it.
I feel that that would be grown people level to
do that versus always pointing a finger on everybody else.
(18:33):
Do you feel like he, you know, ever wanted to
figure this out with you or do you think you
know that was a way for him to be like,
I'm not gonna marry you because you're not gonna get it,
and I'm not even gonna give you a chance to
to help to figure this out with me. Because that's
just kind of what I felt when I saw that
I'm not giving it a chance. Yeah, I felt that too,
(18:55):
And when I as we was at the pool and
like I said, I wasn't trying to attack him, I
wasn't trying to disrespect him by no means. I really
was just trying to ask some questions and get clarity
of a lot. I've never dated a bisexual man. Let's
just first say that, and for me to have questions
and getting clarity, to not label me as something else.
I don't honestly from now, I don't feel like he
was really trying to do that. I feel like it
(19:16):
was a different motive, and I think that's one of
the things I said. I said, what is your motive?
What was your motive behind the show or experiment? Excuse me? Um?
So I personally don't feel like he was now. I
don't personally feel that he was in there for the
right reasons. And I feel like that was triggered it too,
because I was saying that he wasn't liking that. He
actually was telling on himself. If you listen to his conversation,
(19:39):
listen to our argument. He said, what do you think
I did this only for a show? I never called
him out and said that you're doing this only I
mean for a trip? He said, you think I'm only
wanted to do this for a trip, like you're telling
on yourself. I didn't say any of that, right if
we brought this shop with him too, And I'm curious
kind of where you come out on it, Diamond. Um
he I said, you weren't comfortable telling, Diamond, but you're
(20:01):
comfortable telling the world and the cameras about your past
if you know. I know it's hard for you to
figure it out in hindsight. But but if you had
told you, what do you think you would have done?
I don't know. A lot of people have asked me
that question. That's really a good question. I felt like
I was robbed that choice to even make that decision.
I'd even like, honestly, if you would have asked me
(20:22):
if content like if this had played out, if I'm sorry,
if it had not played out, and how would that reactive?
Carlin told me like, now, I don't know what I
would have done, And it goes back to the same
thing in a pause. If he would have told me
in the beginning, I don't know what I would have done,
but I would have definitely tried to approach it, and
I would make my decision based off what he told me,
being honest upfront, What if I know. There's also another hypothetical.
(20:45):
Don't know if you can kind of get your head
around this one. What if the roles were reversed, What
if you had had a bisexual you know, past what
you have told. Do you think you would have told
him prior to the Englis? Of course, of course I would.
I mean, that's just who you are. And I know
people saying it's not a personality trade. You know it's not.
But if it's something that you feel that because stop
a relationship or something that you feel that people haven't
(21:05):
accept you for, I feel like you should have learned
your lessons from then and then learned from them and
then so you won't make those same mistakes again. So
I feel like he should have just been honest and
told me from the beginning, like, hey, you know you
might not sit well when or you might You give
me the option to make those decisions, don't make them
for me. And I feel like he took that from
me right well. One of the things that he says,
(21:26):
and you know, I can't speak to this because I'm
not I'm not in that world, but that the black
community has a really big, you know, influencer. There's a
lot of pressure, a lot of prejudice just because you know,
if you're white in your by, it's different than when
you're black in your by. And I don't know if
you can speak to that. Um, Yeah, no, I don't
know if I can speak on that either because I
don't know you know, what he's going through as then
(21:48):
for the black community because he's bisexual or you know,
how he's simple you expose themselves to his sexuality. Although
I have both um rights have been you know, coming
at me O ways. I have Black community not supporting me,
and I have Caucasian community not supporting me. I have
both African American and Caucasian not supporting me, and I
(22:09):
have both supported me. So I don't feel like you
can label it as only black people are attacking me
or dissones and this, or only white people are more accepting,
Like I don't feel that's the case on my ind
and how I'm looking into it. So I don't I
can't really speak on but have of what cause it
might be going through with the communities. What the Diamond?
(22:30):
What is What has life been like for you post show,
specifically the way people reacted to you on the show,
Like what what has that experience been like for you? Um,
it's been good and bad. Um, it's been a lot
to deal with, especially when you see people calling you
certain names and you know, saying you're disgusting human person
and you know, making death threats, Like I feel like
(22:51):
that's just extreme and people really don't know me. I've
never been a person who you know, I hate. I
even hate now that I allow myself to get out
of out of character. When I was at the pool,
the cursed mouth throw money. But you're never yet. But
you never know what you would do until you're put
(23:12):
in that situation. And maybe it wasn't the best best
choice to make, but that's how I felt at that time.
I felt robbed and I felt upset. So you know,
like moving forward, you know, I'm just looking to do
good things and taking I'm not allowing a negative comment,
so hold me back or label me as a person.
I know, I know myself and I'm procure with myself,
(23:34):
and I know I can bounce back. Like I said,
I'm built from a strong cloth and I meant that
when I said that, So I know that you know,
and I'm sorry for interrupting you. But I also got
out of character and sud I mean thanks to Damien
and cursed at him and all that stuff, and I
mean that's that for me, is just a coping mechanism.
And you know, since watching the show, I've realized, oh
(23:57):
my god, like I still do that and let me,
you know, kind of tone it down a bit. But
you know, is that something that you know, you're just
kind of like all learned from it, but I still
do it because you know, it's it's hard to just
break that habit. I don't know if we you know,
it's not easy or not just for people to label
us as as bad people because we we react in
certain ways. I kind of want to tell him, like, hey,
(24:19):
I want you to get engaged in nine days and
then have a wedding in less than a month, and
then let's see how you do exactly, because I like
a lot of people have trying to say what they
would do, or a lot of people say I actually
handled the situation a lot better than what they would do.
But which is you know, which feels great that people
actually are supporting my decision, Like no, you learn from
me your mistakes. Um, like I said, for as speaking
(24:40):
for cause it you know, he learned from his mistakes,
you move forward and you just don't dwell over it.
And for me, I feel like I can learn from
my mistake and learn how to approach things a lot differently.
I'm going to be a little more you know. Maybe
even when I was sitting there on the reunion, I
was like, maybe I should have, just as I saw,
you know, said more out of you know, defensive. Maybe
I should have redirected the conversation and just been like,
(25:02):
you know what, You're a beautiful person, you know, I
see you for your value, I see you for this.
I'm just having quite like I'm sure I was really
I thought I was trying to do that, um, but
I don't know. Maybe it was. It was just out
of controls, just out of my hands at one point
because if you getting defensive and saying bad things to me,
I got defensive, and I'm like, we're throwing blows, like like,
(25:23):
I'm not gonna sit there and allow you to just
disrespect me like that. So but I do feel like
I can throw in the future what was the you know,
because it was so far removed. I think, you know,
we learned that it was eighteen months ago when you
did that reunion show. So what was it like? Had
you seen him since then? Had you you know, what
was that reunion show? Like? Can you kind of take
us through the that year and a half between leaving
(25:44):
Mexico and showing up on that reunion show, just specifically
as it relates to Carlton. Yeah, So after the Mexico trip,
him and myself we stayed separate, like we never talked
for a while. Um, and then he started reaching out, um,
you know, just saying I have birthday, a little marks
here and there, um, but he didn't have my number,
but like reaching out through like group chat and um.
(26:07):
Eventually before the show actually aired. I think it was
like a week before or a couple of days before,
he messaged me again, wanted to apologize and wanted to
talk to me on my phone, asked me for my number.
So we didn't speak. He apologized and I apologize as well, because,
like I told him, I didn't want him to feel
a tack or I was coming at him wrong. I
really was trying to be consoli. And then after that
(26:29):
moving up to the reunion, so we already was comfortable
to be in the same space at the reunion. So
then he apologized. Of course again as you've seen UM,
and then after the reunion, we have not been working
on our friendship. We went our separates, and I think
it's best to say, like we just probably gonna that's
gonna be like that forever. So the because Yeah, one
(26:51):
of the things that UM he mentioned was Brianna and
he said, you know, I kind of go back and
think about, you know, what might have been if I
had chosen a different path. Was there have you thought
about that? Was there a different path that that you
could have seen yourself taken that you wish you would
have pursued further? Yeah, I do. It was a lot
of like it's for that's so funny that he would say,
(27:12):
you know a lot of things about that wasn't shown,
but trying to make it paint the picture on me.
I felt like it was a lot of things that
were shown from him that would paint a picture of
him and he's not even even owning up to that. Um,
there was guys I did making connection and he didn't
allow that to happen, like you know how guys get
and he felt like he had to tell people like
(27:33):
this is my girl and don't talk to me and
blah blah blah. So that's what I'm saying, Like for
him to say certain things and saying this like makes
me really wonder, like is your apologies really jambling? And
I really don't now, I don't think it was, or
you think like he went through the guy's facility, and
I know for sure he did so. After the union,
(27:54):
he you know, presented you with a ring, a friendship ring. Um,
you still have that, you wear it? You think about that.
I don't have his ring, and no, I did not
still wear it after the reunion. Um, it's hard to
talk about it, but um, I felt like he was
really genuine. That's why I stepped it. But then after
it and the whole another person came out and back
(28:17):
to how he treated me in Mexico, and I start
seeing it and it was it was reported, it's documented
all on his Instagram. Although he raised it. You don't,
I don't forget it, and um, to the point I
had to just block him, and I hope I wish
him the best of luck, and for him to say
those certain things that he said really just shows me
that this is that wasn't a sincere or genuine apology.
(28:40):
But I do wish him the luck? Are you happy
you did the show? I am happy I did the show.
At one point in time, if you would have asked
me right out in Mexico, I would have said no.
But now that you know the show has aired and
you know I'm able to watch it and see and everything,
I'm starting to say, like, Okay, Diamond, you know, like
this is a yarman and this is experienced. God clearly
(29:02):
wanted you to do this, and God want this that
example out for you, and I'm glad God picked me
to do that. So I feel the same exact why. Um,
For a while, I was like why did I ever
put myself through that? And then after the show, it
really just I changed careers like seven times. It really
just helped me realize, like who I am as a person?
(29:22):
Did you go through something similar? Yes, idea. I changed
careers as well, working on my doctorate right now, and
like I started going back to school and you know,
studying in this this field. And yeah, so I've changed careers.
And now that I'm starting to embrace women empowerment and
this is the month for women empowerment, so I'm actually
starting to embrace it and I'm gonna come out with
(29:44):
other things and bigger things to help encourage women. I've
been doing a lot of bookings for motivational speaking, which
is great. So I'm looking forward to the future Diamond.
In terms of UM, the you know what we the
viewers were able to see, UH said to g I
felt like of all the engagements, yours seemed to be
the most overwhelming and emotional. UM, when he actually proposed
(30:07):
to you, can you kind of maybe share why you
think that was and maybe some of the you know,
we we heard what you said about how you know
this was unlike anything you'd ever kind of been through
and how special it was. Um, can you maybe kind
of give us a little background as to why it
was and why you think you reacted that way? I mean,
in a million years, you want to I want to
get married, I want to fall in love, but you
(30:28):
never think that would happen that way. So I was,
I was. I had so many emotions running through me.
I was happy, I was nervous, I was scared, you know,
I think about our families. It was so many things
I was run through my mind, but I knew that
I was. I felt in love with Carlton and I
knew I was ready to start to build our empire
together and you know, work on each other. I was
(30:50):
definitely I grew up. I grew up in a home
where my father wasn't there. My parents actually was divorced,
but he did pass away when I was a little girl.
Not having enough other there. You know, I always told
myself with the next person I marry, I would make
it work. Like I'm not. I'm not going to get
a divorced I want both parents in the household, like
I want my children to grow up with a father,
(31:12):
which is something I never did. So that's how that
became really emotional. And I'm just putting myself in a
situation at Wow, like I took a leap of faith,
you know, and test this out, and wow, like I'm engaged.
I've never to hear those words. I think it gets
It sets a woman off in a positive way, like, Wow,
I've announced someone who actually want me to be his queen,
(31:35):
want me to be by his side, and we were
ride to die to the end. And that's what I
was That's all the emotions that I was hearing. That's
why it was so emotional for me. And I was
crying like a baby, and well it was. It was
certainly compelling content and UM, and I think especially in
the reunion episode, you came off very well. UM, and
we really appreciate you coming on and talking to us.
(31:56):
And it sounds like things are going great as she
continue education and so like, as far as the bookings
for the motivational speaking, everything's going well. And congratulations on that.
And you're beautiful is all you too, And congratulations to you,
thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, bye bye, alright, geez.
(32:23):
So the one thing that I want to follow up
with you on that was, um, because obviously you and
Damian are still together and you still talk to him.
What she said about Carlton did you hear had you
heard that that that that he went around the men's
facility and said stay away from Diamond. Um. I don't
recall having him like kind of scare everyone off. UM.
(32:45):
I know Taylor did that with you. With me, Damon
was not having it. Do you think it was effective
with anybody else? Nope? But I think you know, UM,
I think at that point, men there's a lot of testosterone,
and I mean girls can be very possessive to so
(33:07):
you know, I think some girls did that too, or
like this is my man, like you know, So it's
just it just depends on your personality and if you
like that kind of possessiveness, go for it. Right. LEXI
came up to you, was like, Hey, they mean's my
guy and you should get out of the room. No,
that did not happen. You're putting words in my mouth,
not even a little bit. I didn't even know that
she was into him after like weeks after. Yeah, but um,
(33:28):
I mean I think that the way that you know
she's handled is just she's definitely looking at the positive
side of things and isn't dwelling on you know, the
things that she said or the things that he said.
She's not letting it defind her, which, if anything, it's
improving her, which I really commend. Yeah. Uh, that's tough
certainly to see that you mentioned there were moments you
(33:50):
know that that you don't like seeing on on the
show that you have to relive and or there forever
anytime you want to go back and check in, I
would assume even tougher for her, but always good to
kind of get both sides of the story. We got
it from Carlton of course, in a prior episode, we
get it from Diamond there, and that is our Diamond
in the Rough episode. Al Right, be sure to subscribe,
(34:10):
continue to uh download the new episodes because ahead we're
gonna get well, you know it was we got Carlton,
we got her, we've had you. Now we need to
get Damien. So we're gonna get the Damian episode. That
is something you're definitely gonna want to hear, so be
sure to keep your eyes out for that episode. Have
we come up with a title for that episode yet?
When we get Damian, you know what, we'll we'll kick
(34:31):
it around. We'll think about it. Subscribe to Love Insight
on I Heart Radio or however you get your podcasts
Welcome to Lovin Science. This is our Diamond in the
Rough show. We are going to hear from Diamond, one
half of the Carlton Diamond couple from the Love Is
Blind Show. Ge and Nina is with me. I'm Matt
money Smith. She good to be back with you again.
Get to be with you Money the one thing that
that UM, just to get right into it before Diamond
joins us. Um, you know she's a dancer for a
(00:31):
basketball team. Um. The job titles were interesting because yours
was business owner. We got into that you partnered with
a friend and you guys were trying to grow your
own business. When you went on the show, Damien's just
said like general manager. Everything was very bland. So when
you guys are talking and and you're in the facility
before you start meeting with the guys and you're bonding
with the girls. UM did anything like when when Diamond
(00:54):
says I danced for a basketball team, I've got how
many Like what's the follow up there? That's that's an
interesting fashion. I mean we were just really excited. We're like,
you're so dope, like KNT just some moves and what's
actually funny? And we talked about it all the time.
We're like, I can't believe they didn't show that is
me And I think it was Amber. Uh. We had
like a little dance off with diamonds. She taught us
(01:16):
like a little like a little set um and they
filmed it in the lounge and we were just having fun.
We probably had a couple of drinks and um, she
was great. She definitely knew how to move and just
kind of like maybe she was the life of the party.
I'd say, what were your what were your first impressions
of her? Beyond she knew how to move, you know,
like what kind of person because you know, we think
(01:36):
we know him, but what can you share with us,
like shed some lights some insight here? When I saw her,
I thought, you know, she was really cute. Um, she
had she was like very confident, but she was also
a little shy. I think I think we all were.
We were just like not knowing what to expect. So
I just kind of feeling everybody out. I can tell
that she's like a very like intuitive person and she
(01:57):
was trying to see like okay, like do I like
these girls? Um? And I think she did right. The
When you watch the episode and you see and we'll
get into this with Diamond here in a minute. But
when you see the engagement, I mean that was she
was probably like the most emotional of of all of
the cast. I mean, you know, she kind of collapses
into the corner of the couch, buries her head and
just starts crying uncontrollably. Was there anything that you might
(02:21):
have gathered from her that you talked to her about
that that maybe or maybe you can share with us,
like how emotional it is in there, because it just
seemed like it really was something overwhelming. Um. And she
kept saying, I've never had these feelings, never experienced anything
like this before. Yeah, I think you know, we all
we all felt I thought, um point on. You know,
(02:42):
at different times I would come back from a date
and I would be like super excited and like kitty,
and you know, there would be someone crying on the
couch mm hmmm pretty much every day, and whether it
would be a good cry or a hard cry, it's
because there was a lot of release happening in in
this experiment. Um. And what I say when I mean,
(03:03):
what I mean when I say that is, you know
we were able to fully just take down every single
wall ironically enough, and um, and just share the deepest, darkest,
saddest things because we wanted this person to know who
we were and why we are the way that we are,
and so you kind of relive these really intimate moments. Um.
(03:25):
And I think there's a lot of fear of it too,
because you know, someone says, okay, like I feel for
you or I love you, but then you kind of
go back and you're like, I hope that they you know,
I hope that they do love me. Like what if
they go and change your mind? So, like just speaking
to that, um, did you were you like dismissed by anybody?
Like did you find yourself just you put them high
(03:46):
on the list and then somehow you guys didn't get
matched up, and you're like that person must have put
me really low on the list. Yeah, Um, I think well,
I think I mentioned this earlier. Me and Barnett just
kind of like trickled away from each other like at
the like mutually mutually. Yeah. So he was like my
number one for like the first two days and then
he was like my number seven like after that. Right,
(04:08):
So the first two days you're with him, you go
on dates with him, yes, and then that was it. Yeah,
and then that was that was pretty much it. We
the next couple of days we were just like, oh, hi,
what's up. And we've talked about Taylor, talked about Taylor.
Did he break from you or did you break from him?
So we he was my number two throughout the whole experience. Um,
and I think he so he developed feelings for me,
(04:32):
and also he developed feelings for Jessica, but I only
saw him as a friend. And um, I think because
he heard that I had chosen Damien, he was like,
all right, I'm done here. Um. So he heard that
Damien was your number one, yes, and then that was
and that was that. So then he okay, because I
guess what I'm getting at is you mentioned girls around
(04:55):
the couch crying. You know, whether that's good or bad?
Is that because they thought they were going to go
to the pod and there was nobody there? Or was it?
Is that? Is that how it was? Or was it
more they were in the pod and the guy was like, Hey,
I just want to tell you. You know, I guess
through the wall, not face to face, but voice to
voice that I'm out. Well, I don't know, I think
Elsie got the biggest you know shock of them all
(05:18):
because she made it all the way through the end
and was waiting to hear whether Barnett was choosing her amber.
So when she was crying, it was you know, more
of a rejection cry. Um. But you know, we wouldn't
really cry because we didn't get to see that person.
There was more just more anxiety, uh, and just like
excitement like Okay, he wasn't my first date, but he's
(05:40):
gonna be my third, he's gonna be my fourth, Like
what's going on? You know? We would just we would
you know, be freaking out and like shaking in our
boots because we wanted to see her number one. Um.
But as far as like crying, it was more because
of like this overwhelming happy cry like oh my god,
I can't believe this is happening to me, or like
I just shared something so hard and like I'm reliving
(06:01):
this all over again. Um. The rejection cries I think
were more from Brianna and Elsie. What about Damien as
far as the other girls win, did they have him
as a one or a two or who else who
else had him? Um? I think from what I've gathered,
they wouldn't tell you. I have found out later, um
(06:21):
that Amber and Lexi were like vibing with him Amber
in the beginning, and again Lexi is Lexi skips. She
got actually engaged to Wesley Bear. Okay, yeah, so short guy, Wesley,
your former roommate Lexi were. Are they still together? I
don't think so. Okay, so they're not together, but they
actually okay, they actually get engaged Wesley. Was he ever
(06:44):
on your list or no? Um, he was like maybe
like my number seven? Yeah, I side tracked you, all right,
So go back to where you were there. So with yeah,
with anyone that was interested in Damian, I didn't know,
but it was until like later, like way later than
it apparently like Lexie tried to talk to Damien after
she knew that I was in. Is that why you
(07:05):
kicked her out of your room? I didn't kick her out?
What I mean? You said you had two roommates you
started with Legure. Yeah, well you know they switched surround?
Is that what it was? Beat it? No, not at all.
I loved her. I was just very you know, we've
actually became really great friends. Um, and I understand exactly
why someone would shoot their shot you know, because it's
(07:26):
this might be the love of your life. You you
don't want to you know, you're fighting for your love. Um.
I just happened to win any any arguments. Did you
argue with anybody? I did not? Um. I again, I
was the peacemaker. When people would come to me and
say like, oh, like, I haven't I have an issue
with this person? I would be like, while, let's talk
(07:48):
it out, Like why do you have an issue? Well,
because she likes my guy. It's like we all like
each other's guys, so like, let's let's try to get
the core of it right. Well, I mean, if they
wanted to fight, it's like, okay, you go fight over there. Like,
I am not here to make friends or enemies. I
am here to find the love of my life. And
I so if I so happen to make a great friend, awesome.
(08:08):
If someone wants to start a fight with me, like
I will lay you out, but I also will try
to avoid that so sweetly. All right, that's a perfect
spot for us to take a quick break. When we returned,
Diamond will join us next. All right, you always said
(08:31):
it right before the break, and now she is kind
enough to join us Diamond from Love is Blindness on
the phone, Diamond, how you doing. I'm doing great, this
beautiful Sunday morning. How are you guys doing well? Happy
to do now? Oh we're well, yeah, it's morning. I
think maybe a little more morning than afternoon for us.
But the last we saw you was was on the reunion.
But we're obviously going to go back a little bit
(08:53):
before that, and I even want to get to before
you're with Carlton and stuff. Just maybe walk us through
how you got cast, um, and what your impressions were
of the show, kind of once you you showed up
and you figured out exactly what it was you got
yourself into. Yeah, so I actually how I got cast
was through a flyer. Um. I noticed a flyer and
my coach actually was the one who sent it to
(09:15):
a lot of us girls. You know. I was on
the NBA team and she sent it to us, and
I was at first I was hesitant, but then I
was like, let me try and see. So I sent
in all my information and I had a couple of
phone interviews and skype interviews and leading up to here,
I was picked to be on the show. Um, And
(09:35):
what was your other question? Sorry? My question is like,
what did you what did you think you were getting
yourself into. Was it a show? Was it actually seeking
someone who could potentially be your husband? Like? What what
were you thinking was gonna happen when you decided to
do this? Um? So what I was thinking, I was
actually thinking to find love. You know. The producers and
(09:56):
everyone explained the experiment and explained you know, legist of
how you know, it's kind of blind dating, but in
a different way, and it really it really made me interested.
I was really like blown away by the process and
I was like, Wow, this is something I really would
like to try to do because you know, living in Atlanta,
I find it very hard to find someone in date
(10:18):
and it's not a really easy easy task here. So
when they explained that to me, when yeah, right, when
they splayed that to me, I was all for it
and I was there to find the love of my life.
In terms of um, We've heard from a number of
different cast mates and they all described the pods and
and it sounds very intense. How would you describe it, Um,
(10:39):
I'll definitely say it was powerful. You know, it's something
that you know, you don't do every day. So so
even I was like, walking in there, I didn't know
what to expect. I didn't know how the how was
gonna the outcome was gonna be. I never thought like
I was gonna find love or you know, fall for
someone as much as I did for Call To And
(11:00):
when that happened, I was really excited and um, I
love how we were able to share and be open
with each other and share, you know, everything that we
wanted to talk about. It. They gave us the time
to disclose so much information and really get to know
that person and fall in love with that person. What
do you think about when you when you walked in
there for the first time you saw all of us,
girls were like, oh, this is my competition or No.
(11:24):
I didn't feel that way. No. I was just walking
around looking at like how beautiful the setup was there.
You know, I was like, Wow, this is really happy.
Why this is beautiful? And all those girls, you know,
we were all somehow we formed a bond, like right away.
I never felt like I had to compete with her
her her, you know, I thought we all were beautiful
and I felt like we all clearly had something special
(11:46):
about us to be cast for the show. So something
stood out that the producers love two castles for the show,
and I was just hoping that when our dates would
see that as well. So we uh, I've already established
with g that was super creepy. John. Damn I keep
getting his name out. Yes, can you share a John
story with us, Diamond? I can't remember our dates to
(12:09):
be that's I think that's how insignificant. But like it
wasn't really like that. I think I had already marked
him off or because we got su chance to like
number our date from my top to bottom, and I
don't know, he never wasn't like my top five. So
he said he was always fifteen. He's a bad person.
He's a bad person or anything, but he's just he
(12:30):
didn't really stand out as in talking like our conversation
wasn't like on point or you know, we loved it.
One of the one of the clips that obviously it
was very popular was you and Barnett and Barnette saying
that your name sounded like a stripper. So how how
quickly were you turned off by Barnett? Was that all
kind of just a little bit that we were to
(12:50):
see or was there something else to that conversation that
maybe uh, led you to either like or not like him. No,
Barnett is a very cool person, as you see. I
could just I just saw through his little his suave,
like you're just being so like, you know, hey girl, hey,
And I could just tell that, you know, he was
smooth and trying to, like, you know, talk to everybody.
But he's not the first person I ever said that
(13:12):
associated my name would being a stripper, like I get
it all the time, live in Atlanta, and then to
be a professional dancer. People always mixed the two for
some reason. But yeah, all right, I just okay, But
I think Diamond lost this meeting, you know, Diamond actually
meeting something way more powerful and bigger than you know,
being related to a dancer. But yeah, Barnett was a
(13:33):
really good guy. I don't have anything fast to say
about him. Um, I feel like we just knew right
off that this just wasn't gonna work, and I just
I was just separating myself, especially when I heard other
girls just fall in love with him so fast and
like really enjoying him. I was like, oh, no, that's
Mr over there. I know that we we were, you know, obviously,
(13:54):
you know, in the same spot, and you taught me
how to dance. You taught me a cute dancer. Um,
But I you know, I don't feel like we had
like deep conversations, so like who who was like your
confidant in the lounge? Mm hmm my deep conversation? Are you?
Are you getting interviewed too? Are you just interviewed everyone too?
(14:17):
I'm interviewing everyone too. Oh my good jew, it's been fun.
I'm sorry to just get thrown away off that. But
besides Carlton, um, I had really made good connections with
other people. Um, like one, I felt Mark and I
had really good conversation. We had a lot of similarities,
(14:38):
and but we already knew because I was actually cool
with Jessica in the house. You know, everybody's going to
be like you know, but I was really great. Yeah,
she was really sweet. Besides um everything else that happened
on the show, but with our friendship, we were really cool.
And she used to always tell me about Mark and
how she really likes them. So I kind of separate
(14:59):
myself from and she's starting to like Mark. Hold On, hey, Diamond,
I'm gonna jump in there because I gotta ask you
because this is this is repeatedly, this is now happened.
It's just someone who watched the show. Jessica was not great.
Jessica was a complete nightmare. Um, yet every cast member
is like, no, you got it wrong. So what I'm
starting to come to figure is Amber and nightmare. Did
(15:20):
we get that wrong? Is that No? No, Amber's my nightmare.
Amber knows what she wants and she clearly tells the
whole world that, look, this is not this is who
I want. This is who I am, and this is
who I want and if you like it, oh well
kick rocks. Like that's Amber's attitude. Jest's attitude is not
like that. Jess is more sincere. She like she was
(15:40):
falling in love. Like I think people confusing experiment, like
although she would fall in love with Market, it's okay
to start liking Barnett, like we're all were going on dates,
we're all trying to meet our number one. I really
feel like people need to understand that because she liked Market,
because she like Barnett doesn't make her a bad person.
Now when it comes down to other things that happened
later on the show, I don't I would not agree
(16:01):
with how she handled that, but at the same time,
she wants to find this is the one you got
to spend the rest of your life with, Like you
want to make sure you pick the right person. So
how were you and Carlton able to say like, hey,
wedding's off, we're done, We're not going to be a
part of this anymore. Like how did that come about? Um?
At the pool scene, we're talking, Yeah, that's where it
really all went down. I don't feel like when I
(16:23):
left the first time, when he exposed his bisex being bisexual,
I don't feel like I was completely like, no, this
is not it, this is not gonna work for me,
because I felt like if that was the case, I
would have said it right then and there and we
would never had another scene. I would have been like,
this is not for me. You know, enjoy your life.
I'm enjoy mind, have a nice day. But I did not.
I wanted to, you know, talk to him and get
(16:45):
some questions answered. And I feel like that's why I
was trying to do at the other pool things, the
one that the big the big blew up happened, and um,
as you see, it escalated, and I feel like it
was more me who was like I'm done versus him
because I gave him his ring back and I felt
that triggered other emotions for causing and led him to,
(17:05):
you know, get very defensive. He Uh. We talked to
Carlton and he told us that there were some things
we didn't see that led to that, and I feel
it's it's only fair for us to kind of point
that out to you so you can He suggested that
maybe you said some things that that set off some
of those triggers. Um, what can you share with us
that you're comfortable sharing with us about that conversation. I mean,
(17:29):
that conversation was very hard to even approach, you know,
because you know, you don't want to say the wrong
things or you don't want it to be miss taking
the wrong way. Carson, how everything had happened is pretty
much what happened. I didn't come in there arguing with him,
putting my finger in his face or anything like that.
I actually came calm, and I was relaxed and was
trying to stay in control of the situation. When he
(17:50):
started making his own verbal comments and saying things and
not understand it. I even said it, you're not understanding,
and he was just shutting me out, and I don't
feel like I have there's nothing that he's trying to
paint a picture or try to say. I know we
did get the heated arguments, so things might have gotten cut,
but for him to say that other things that tricker
(18:10):
him off, that I was saying homophobic biophobic slurs, like
he was also saying bad stuff as well. So for
him to try to just throw things like almost playing
the victim again in which I called him out then
like you're playing a victim instead of like just owning
up and saying I'm sorry and we can move past it.
I feel that that would be grown people level to
do that versus always pointing a finger on everybody else.
(18:33):
Do you feel like he, you know, ever wanted to
figure this out with you or do you think you
know that was a way for him to be like,
I'm not gonna marry you because you're not gonna get it,
and I'm not even gonna give you a chance to
to help to figure this out with me. Because that's
just kind of what I felt when I saw that
I'm not giving it a chance. Yeah, I felt that too,
(18:55):
And when I as we was at the pool and
like I said, I wasn't trying to attack him, I
wasn't trying to disrespect him by no means. I really
was just trying to ask some questions and get clarity
of a lot. I've never dated a bisexual man. Let's
just first say that, and for me to have questions
and getting clarity, to not label me as something else.
I don't honestly from now, I don't feel like he
was really trying to do that. I feel like it
(19:16):
was a different motive, and I think that's one of
the things I said. I said, what is your motive?
What was your motive behind the show or experiment? Excuse me? Um?
So I personally don't feel like he was now. I
don't personally feel that he was in there for the
right reasons. And I feel like that was triggered it too,
because I was saying that he wasn't liking that. He
actually was telling on himself. If you listen to his conversation,
(19:39):
listen to our argument. He said, what do you think
I did this only for a show? I never called
him out and said that you're doing this only I
mean for a trip? He said, you think I'm only
wanted to do this for a trip, like you're telling
on yourself. I didn't say any of that, right if
we brought this shop with him too, And I'm curious
kind of where you come out on it, Diamond. Um
he I said, you weren't comfortable telling, Diamond, but you're
(20:01):
comfortable telling the world and the cameras about your past
if you know. I know it's hard for you to
figure it out in hindsight. But but if you had
told you, what do you think you would have done?
I don't know. A lot of people have asked me
that question. That's really a good question. I felt like
I was robbed that choice to even make that decision.
I'd even like, honestly, if you would have asked me
(20:22):
if content like if this had played out, if I'm sorry,
if it had not played out, and how would that reactive?
Carlin told me like, now, I don't know what I
would have done, And it goes back to the same
thing in a pause. If he would have told me
in the beginning, I don't know what I would have done,
but I would have definitely tried to approach it, and
I would make my decision based off what he told me,
being honest upfront, What if I know. There's also another hypothetical.
(20:45):
Don't know if you can kind of get your head
around this one. What if the roles were reversed, What
if you had had a bisexual you know, past what
you have told. Do you think you would have told
him prior to the Englis? Of course, of course I would.
I mean, that's just who you are. And I know
people saying it's not a personality trade. You know it's not.
But if it's something that you feel that because stop
a relationship or something that you feel that people haven't
(21:05):
accept you for, I feel like you should have learned
your lessons from then and then learned from them and
then so you won't make those same mistakes again. So
I feel like he should have just been honest and
told me from the beginning, like, hey, you know you
might not sit well when or you might You give
me the option to make those decisions, don't make them
for me. And I feel like he took that from
me right well. One of the things that he says,
(21:26):
and you know, I can't speak to this because I'm
not I'm not in that world, but that the black
community has a really big, you know, influencer. There's a
lot of pressure, a lot of prejudice just because you know,
if you're white in your by, it's different than when
you're black in your by. And I don't know if
you can speak to that. Um, Yeah, no, I don't
know if I can speak on that either because I
don't know you know, what he's going through as then
(21:48):
for the black community because he's bisexual or you know,
how he's simple you expose themselves to his sexuality. Although
I have both um rights have been you know, coming
at me O ways. I have Black community not supporting me,
and I have Caucasian community not supporting me. I have
both African American and Caucasian not supporting me, and I
(22:09):
have both supported me. So I don't feel like you
can label it as only black people are attacking me
or dissones and this, or only white people are more accepting,
Like I don't feel that's the case on my ind
and how I'm looking into it. So I don't I
can't really speak on but have of what cause it
might be going through with the communities. What the Diamond?
(22:30):
What is What has life been like for you post show,
specifically the way people reacted to you on the show,
Like what what has that experience been like for you? Um,
it's been good and bad. Um, it's been a lot
to deal with, especially when you see people calling you
certain names and you know, saying you're disgusting human person
and you know, making death threats, Like I feel like
(22:51):
that's just extreme and people really don't know me. I've
never been a person who you know, I hate. I
even hate now that I allow myself to get out
of out of character. When I was at the pool,
the cursed mouth throw money. But you're never yet. But
you never know what you would do until you're put
(23:12):
in that situation. And maybe it wasn't the best best
choice to make, but that's how I felt at that time.
I felt robbed and I felt upset. So you know,
like moving forward, you know, I'm just looking to do
good things and taking I'm not allowing a negative comment,
so hold me back or label me as a person.
I know, I know myself and I'm procure with myself,
(23:34):
and I know I can bounce back. Like I said,
I'm built from a strong cloth and I meant that
when I said that, So I know that you know,
and I'm sorry for interrupting you. But I also got
out of character and sud I mean thanks to Damien
and cursed at him and all that stuff, and I
mean that's that for me, is just a coping mechanism.
And you know, since watching the show, I've realized, oh
(23:57):
my god, like I still do that and let me,
you know, kind of tone it down a bit. But
you know, is that something that you know, you're just
kind of like all learned from it, but I still
do it because you know, it's it's hard to just
break that habit. I don't know if we you know,
it's not easy or not just for people to label
us as as bad people because we we react in
certain ways. I kind of want to tell him, like, hey,
(24:19):
I want you to get engaged in nine days and
then have a wedding in less than a month, and
then let's see how you do exactly, because I like
a lot of people have trying to say what they
would do, or a lot of people say I actually
handled the situation a lot better than what they would do.
But which is you know, which feels great that people
actually are supporting my decision, Like no, you learn from
me your mistakes. Um, like I said, for as speaking
(24:40):
for cause it you know, he learned from his mistakes,
you move forward and you just don't dwell over it.
And for me, I feel like I can learn from
my mistake and learn how to approach things a lot differently.
I'm going to be a little more you know. Maybe
even when I was sitting there on the reunion, I
was like, maybe I should have, just as I saw,
you know, said more out of you know, defensive. Maybe
I should have redirected the conversation and just been like,
(25:02):
you know what, You're a beautiful person, you know, I
see you for your value, I see you for this.
I'm just having quite like I'm sure I was really
I thought I was trying to do that, um, but
I don't know. Maybe it was. It was just out
of controls, just out of my hands at one point
because if you getting defensive and saying bad things to me,
I got defensive, and I'm like, we're throwing blows, like like,
(25:23):
I'm not gonna sit there and allow you to just
disrespect me like that. So but I do feel like
I can throw in the future what was the you know,
because it was so far removed. I think, you know,
we learned that it was eighteen months ago when you
did that reunion show. So what was it like? Had
you seen him since then? Had you you know, what
was that reunion show? Like? Can you kind of take
us through the that year and a half between leaving
(25:44):
Mexico and showing up on that reunion show, just specifically
as it relates to Carlton. Yeah, So after the Mexico trip,
him and myself we stayed separate, like we never talked
for a while. Um, and then he started reaching out, um,
you know, just saying I have birthday, a little marks
here and there, um, but he didn't have my number,
but like reaching out through like group chat and um.
(26:07):
Eventually before the show actually aired. I think it was
like a week before or a couple of days before,
he messaged me again, wanted to apologize and wanted to
talk to me on my phone, asked me for my number.
So we didn't speak. He apologized and I apologize as well, because,
like I told him, I didn't want him to feel
a tack or I was coming at him wrong. I
really was trying to be consoli. And then after that
(26:29):
moving up to the reunion, so we already was comfortable
to be in the same space at the reunion. So
then he apologized. Of course again as you've seen UM,
and then after the reunion, we have not been working
on our friendship. We went our separates, and I think
it's best to say, like we just probably gonna that's
gonna be like that forever. So the because Yeah, one
(26:51):
of the things that UM he mentioned was Brianna and
he said, you know, I kind of go back and
think about, you know, what might have been if I
had chosen a different path. Was there have you thought
about that? Was there a different path that that you
could have seen yourself taken that you wish you would
have pursued further? Yeah, I do. It was a lot
of like it's for that's so funny that he would say,
(27:12):
you know a lot of things about that wasn't shown,
but trying to make it paint the picture on me.
I felt like it was a lot of things that
were shown from him that would paint a picture of
him and he's not even even owning up to that. Um,
there was guys I did making connection and he didn't
allow that to happen, like you know how guys get
and he felt like he had to tell people like
(27:33):
this is my girl and don't talk to me and
blah blah blah. So that's what I'm saying, Like for
him to say certain things and saying this like makes
me really wonder, like is your apologies really jambling? And
I really don't now, I don't think it was, or
you think like he went through the guy's facility, and
I know for sure he did so. After the union,
(27:54):
he you know, presented you with a ring, a friendship ring. Um,
you still have that, you wear it? You think about that.
I don't have his ring, and no, I did not
still wear it after the reunion. Um, it's hard to
talk about it, but um, I felt like he was
really genuine. That's why I stepped it. But then after
it and the whole another person came out and back
(28:17):
to how he treated me in Mexico, and I start
seeing it and it was it was reported, it's documented
all on his Instagram. Although he raised it. You don't,
I don't forget it, and um, to the point I
had to just block him, and I hope I wish
him the best of luck, and for him to say
those certain things that he said really just shows me
that this is that wasn't a sincere or genuine apology.
(28:40):
But I do wish him the luck? Are you happy
you did the show? I am happy I did the show.
At one point in time, if you would have asked
me right out in Mexico, I would have said no.
But now that you know the show has aired and
you know I'm able to watch it and see and everything,
I'm starting to say, like, Okay, Diamond, you know, like
this is a yarman and this is experienced. God clearly
(29:02):
wanted you to do this, and God want this that
example out for you, and I'm glad God picked me
to do that. So I feel the same exact why. Um,
For a while, I was like why did I ever
put myself through that? And then after the show, it
really just I changed careers like seven times. It really
just helped me realize, like who I am as a person?
(29:22):
Did you go through something similar? Yes, idea. I changed
careers as well, working on my doctorate right now, and
like I started going back to school and you know,
studying in this this field. And yeah, so I've changed careers.
And now that I'm starting to embrace women empowerment and
this is the month for women empowerment, so I'm actually
starting to embrace it and I'm gonna come out with
(29:44):
other things and bigger things to help encourage women. I've
been doing a lot of bookings for motivational speaking, which
is great. So I'm looking forward to the future Diamond.
In terms of UM, the you know what we the
viewers were able to see, UH said to g I
felt like of all the engagements, yours seemed to be
the most overwhelming and emotional. UM, when he actually proposed
(30:07):
to you, can you kind of maybe share why you
think that was and maybe some of the you know,
we we heard what you said about how you know
this was unlike anything you'd ever kind of been through
and how special it was. Um, can you maybe kind
of give us a little background as to why it
was and why you think you reacted that way? I mean,
in a million years, you want to I want to
get married, I want to fall in love, but you
(30:28):
never think that would happen that way. So I was,
I was. I had so many emotions running through me.
I was happy, I was nervous, I was scared, you know,
I think about our families. It was so many things
I was run through my mind, but I knew that
I was. I felt in love with Carlton and I
knew I was ready to start to build our empire
together and you know, work on each other. I was
(30:50):
definitely I grew up. I grew up in a home
where my father wasn't there. My parents actually was divorced,
but he did pass away when I was a little girl.
Not having enough other there. You know, I always told
myself with the next person I marry, I would make
it work. Like I'm not. I'm not going to get
a divorced I want both parents in the household, like
I want my children to grow up with a father,
(31:12):
which is something I never did. So that's how that
became really emotional. And I'm just putting myself in a
situation at Wow, like I took a leap of faith,
you know, and test this out, and wow, like I'm engaged.
I've never to hear those words. I think it gets
It sets a woman off in a positive way, like, Wow,
I've announced someone who actually want me to be his queen,
(31:35):
want me to be by his side, and we were
ride to die to the end. And that's what I
was That's all the emotions that I was hearing. That's
why it was so emotional for me. And I was
crying like a baby, and well it was. It was
certainly compelling content and UM, and I think especially in
the reunion episode, you came off very well. UM, and
we really appreciate you coming on and talking to us.
(31:56):
And it sounds like things are going great as she
continue education and so like, as far as the bookings
for the motivational speaking, everything's going well. And congratulations on that.
And you're beautiful is all you too, And congratulations to you,
thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, bye bye, alright, geez.
(32:23):
So the one thing that I want to follow up
with you on that was, um, because obviously you and
Damian are still together and you still talk to him.
What she said about Carlton did you hear had you
heard that that that that he went around the men's
facility and said stay away from Diamond. Um. I don't
recall having him like kind of scare everyone off. UM.
(32:45):
I know Taylor did that with you. With me, Damon
was not having it. Do you think it was effective
with anybody else? Nope? But I think you know, UM,
I think at that point, men there's a lot of testosterone,
and I mean girls can be very possessive to so
(33:07):
you know, I think some girls did that too, or
like this is my man, like you know, So it's
just it just depends on your personality and if you
like that kind of possessiveness, go for it. Right. LEXI
came up to you, was like, Hey, they mean's my
guy and you should get out of the room. No,
that did not happen. You're putting words in my mouth,
not even a little bit. I didn't even know that
she was into him after like weeks after. Yeah, but um,
(33:28):
I mean I think that the way that you know
she's handled is just she's definitely looking at the positive
side of things and isn't dwelling on you know, the
things that she said or the things that he said.
She's not letting it defind her, which, if anything, it's
improving her, which I really commend. Yeah. Uh, that's tough
certainly to see that you mentioned there were moments you
(33:50):
know that that you don't like seeing on on the
show that you have to relive and or there forever
anytime you want to go back and check in, I
would assume even tougher for her, but always good to
kind of get both sides of the story. We got
it from Carlton of course, in a prior episode, we
get it from Diamond there, and that is our Diamond
in the Rough episode. Al Right, be sure to subscribe,
(34:10):
continue to uh download the new episodes because ahead we're
gonna get well, you know it was we got Carlton,
we got her, we've had you. Now we need to
get Damien. So we're gonna get the Damian episode. That
is something you're definitely gonna want to hear, so be
sure to keep your eyes out for that episode. Have
we come up with a title for that episode yet?
When we get Damian, you know what, we'll we'll kick
(34:31):
it around. We'll think about it. Subscribe to Love Insight
on I Heart Radio or however you get your podcasts
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