Love Is Blind’s Nancy Rodriguez Talks Finding Love with ‘Inspirational’ Fan Who Slid into Her DMs (Exclusive)

• Nancy Rodriguez got engaged to Bartise Bowden during Love Is Blind season 3, but he ultimately decided not to say “I do” on their wedding day
• The reality star started dating someone new last year after he interacted with her on Instagram
• Rodriguez told PEOPLE that she considers her new partner to be a “good person” and the “perfect guy”

Nancy Rodriguez describes getting left at the altar by Bartise Bowden on Love Is Blind season 3 as “having my heart poured into a blender and turned on for my family to see.”

“Post-show, I started therapy because of the heartbreak,” Rodriguez, 34, told PEOPLE at the Wildly Better Well-Being event in N.Y.C. celebrating the launch of Roxanne Kaiser’s Proxy gummies. “It was just like, ‘What do I do now? Could I ever really love someone again?’”

With the help of therapy and self-reflection, Rodriguez has found herself in a new relationship — with a fan who slid into her DMs.

“It started in the comment section at one of my posts and I remember engaging like I do with most of my posts,” the reality star shared. “Then I saw his profile picture again in my DMs, and I was like, ‘Huh, OK.’ It was the consistency in the DMs because I’ve had people DM me and then it goes flat. He was so intentional with voice memos, waiting for my response, asking me questions back.”

But he also didn’t have many profile photos. “I didn’t really know what he looked like,” Rodriguez admitted. “I could have seen him in the street, but I don’t know who that guy is. It was his personality that shined in our messages back and forth. It was giving Love Is Blind!”  

At the start of the relationship, Rodriguez found herself in the process of moving to New York City. Her boyfriend, who she has not identified publicly, lived in Boston at the time and would fly out to see her.

“At the beginning — I’ll be completely transparent — I had this protective shield for myself because I had fallen in love with myself over the last two years,” the real estate investor said. “I was in therapy. I was doing a lot of solo things, solo decisions. So the perfect guy comes in front of you, it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, but also my trauma of being left at the altar.’”

But when Rodriguez met him in person for the first time in February 2023, “it was so clear that this could be something,” she said. “This is a good person that I want to get to know. He made me feel safe and he gave to me so much that I didn’t realize I needed at that time when we met. He truly is an inspirational person.”

She also learned that he loved Love Is Blind.

“My partner watched Love Is Blind, and he even tells me this funny story that it was one of the weeks of the weddings, new episodes were dropping, and he was at a party, a very fancy party for work, and everyone wanted to go out after,” she recalled. “And they’re like,  ‘Aren’t you coming with this?’ He’s like, ‘No, I got to go. New episodes of Love Is Blind are dropping tonight.’”

Her boyfriend has since moved to New York City and they love exploring the city together. “We get to experience a lot together and learn a lot about each other,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez ultimately feels happy that she opened herself up to love again after heartbreak on the show. She also learned an important lesson along the way about putting herself first.

“I remember re-watching these episodes and learning so much about myself by watching myself fall in love, seeing the interactions with my family,” Rodriguez said. “Part of the heartbreak was healing that part of me [that’s] always being there for other people, but then never being able to show up for myself. Now I’m showing up for myself in a way that I can also have a relationship because I give into myself first and then, I’m able to give to others.”

The Netflix reality star lauded self-love for helping her reach this place in her life.

“Self-love is huge in my journey of mental health and understanding what I deserve and being able to receive also that love in my life,” she added. “I’m so happy with my partner.”

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Love Is Blind is streaming now on Netflix.