"Love Is Blind'"s Alex Clarifies If She Covered Tim's Mouth in Fight and Insists His Parents Were 'Not Upset' by Her Nap

10/21/2024 02:49 PM

"It wasn't that I physically covered his mouth — it was kind of like a motion, just to deescalate the situation," Alex Byrd claimed of her actions in Mexico, which resulted in a fight with Tim Godbee

Warning: this story contains spoilers from the first 11 episodes of Love Is Blind season 7.

Love Is Blind's Alex Byrd is clearing the air regarding the criticism she has received for her behavior on and off camera.

In an interview with Vulture, Alex addressed viewer questions about her infamous nap after meeting then-fiancé Tim Godbee's parents. She also spoke about their off-camera fight in Mexico and her shock over the way their breakup ultimately transpired.

Speaking to the outlet, Alex, 33, said she was hesitant for Tim to introduce her to his parents because of the state of their relationship, and it showed during the scene when fans pointed out her awkward body language.

"I definitely wasn't in the best mood, and it had nothing to do with them," she explained. "Specifically, it was the fact that you saw Tim read the letter to my father, and it was very emotional. After that, me and him had a discussion and he was expressing that he was still on the fence with some things. And I didn't feel comfortable bringing more family members into our union if we weren't going to follow through with it."

"I knew if he were to say no or I were to say no, it would have already hurt my dad because he went through that, so I didn't want to do that with his family," she added. "And I didn't have any clarity on where we stood at that moment, so it was uncomfortable for me."

Related: Love Is Blind's Tim Claims He Was 'Being Manipulated' and Shown 'No Serious Effort' in 'Toxic Situation' with Alex

As for the nap, that seemingly caused Tim to reach a breaking point, Alex said that also was not personal toward his parents. With the long, "emotional" hours of filming with her dad the day prior and being out late with Tim afterwards, she said she needed to take time to rest before a commitment that evening.

"I was with his family all day that day," she explained. "We both were, and we even had lunch. It was a really great day. I was just exhausted and had somewhere I had to be later on that evening."

"Then meeting his family, I was with them for a significant amount of time — you want to be present and engaging, so it's a lot of energy," she continued. "One thing that was left out is that Tim actually went to the store. So I went to take a nap, and his parents were downstairs watching TV. They had driven ten hours the day before, so they weren't just in and out. They were gonna be there for a few days."

Related: Love Is Blind: How 8 Couples Have Made Love Last Against the Odds Half a Decade After the Pods Opened (Exclusive)

She recalled being honest with Tim's parents, saying, "Hey, it was a pleasure meeting you. I will see you tomorrow. I do have somewhere to be, but before I go, I'm just gonna take a quick nap before I get on the road." 

"That was a conversation. They were not upset," she added.

Explaining that a lot went on behind the scenes that fans were unable to see, Alex said her Mexico altercation with Tim was misconstrued by the audience when they discussed it on camera. While they did get into a fight, Alex said "it wasn't physical at all."

"It wasn't that I physically covered his mouth — it was kind of like a motion, just to deescalate the situation so he would understand that his voice was turning into yelling," she said. "I was trying to calm him down because sometimes people aren't aware of their tone. I was really just trying to make him aware that it was increasing."

Pointing out that people have claimed "I hit him," Alex maintained the two were only in "a verbal disagreement."

Alex then joked that she was "so hungry" when she and Tim sat down for what ended up being their final conversation as a couple, she said she didn't realize what was about to happen.

"I thought we were going into a discussion about what this whole week has been," she said. "When his tone was like, 'I just want you to sit in front of me,' that's when I knew things were off. Because we've had multiple discussions where I might be at the kitchen table and he's on the couch, or he's in the bathroom and I'm sitting on the bed. So when he asked me to look him in the face and talk to him, I'm like, 'Okay, I don't know what's happening.'"

She said she wishes people could have seen "how he would shut down" more throughout their relationship, revealing many of their issues Tim only discussed with her after cameras went down.

"A lot of times, our disagreements would be him just speaking and not really caring about my opinion or my thoughts," she claimed. "It was literally just him. We both like to talk things out. Unfortunately, Tim just talks so you can understand him, not so he can understand your side."

Related: Love Is Blind's Hannah Owns Up to Her 'Cruel' and 'Demeaning' Treatment of Nick: It's 'A Flaw of Mine' (Exclusive)

Tim took to Instagram on Oct. 16 to share his side of the story after fans saw him tell Alex he did not want to marry someone like her and never wanted to see her again after finding her behavior toward his family upsetting.

"When love, authenticity and respect are consistently met with lack of effort, constant antagonizing and lack of respect for your physical and mental space, it must be met with firm and unmistakable terms," he wrote. "There is much left out from our story, some of which out of an attempt to protect something I once held dear."

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A post shared by Tim Drake Godbee (@timdrakegodbee)

"I am far from a perfect person. I make mistakes and fall short of glory as often as others. I don't expect everyone to love or agree with what I have to say but I have to display an amount of respect for myself and my family if it is not given by others," he continued. "Meet people where they are."

He claimed to have "never argued with someone the amount of consistency I did as with this experience" and tried his "best" to keep disagreements private.

"Through hours of tough conversations that weren't seen, I made the decision to remove myself from what felt like a toxic situation where I was being manipulated and given no serious effort from my partner," the web content strategist said. "I truly believe if someone displayed the same behavior to a partner and the genders [were] reversed, the conversation around our story would be entirely different."

Tim said his intentions in speaking out were not "to be a victim" but instead to "point out the lack of accountability and sincere self-reflection that one should do when they subject anyone to such consistently mean-spirited treatment, let alone to someone you claim to love."

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Episodes 1-11 of Love Is Blind season 7 are now streaming on Netflix. The season 7 finale will drop on Wednesday, Oct. 23, followed by the season 7 reunion on Oct. 30 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

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