- Reality TV personality Pepe Garcia appeared on the Sept. 25 episode of the Sorry, We’re Cyrus podcast and got candid about his life after Love Island USA season 7.
- He had an unfiltered take on his ex, Iris Kendall’s recent romance with TJ Palma, with whom she was paired before him on Love Island.
- Pepe’s reaction comes after Iris and Pepe made an appearance at the Luar show during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 15.
Though Pepe Garcia and Iris Kendall made it all the way to the season 7 finale of Love Island USA, their love story didn’t pan out as fans hoped it would beyond the Villa. Now Pepe is finally breaking his silence about life after Love Island—including those rumors that he cheated on Iris once they came back from Fiji.
During the latest episode of the Sorry, We’re Cyrus podcast hosted by Tish and Brandi Cyrus, Pepe was asked what it was like to navigate infidelity rumors once they landed in the U.S. His reply: “The hardest part has been having all these eyes and spectators on you 24/7 who can call out some bullshit but aren’t always correct in what they see. Especially with Love Island, the fans do want to continue to play this season along. They don’t want it to end.”
He added, “It is an abrupt ending, and anything they can potentially piece together to make a story, they will.”
To recap: When breakup rumors first starting circulating about Pepe and Iris ahead of the Love Island reunion, fans were quick to assume that Pepe had been unfaithful—though he quashed those rumors during an August conversation with TMZ, where he made it clear that he did not cheat.
“I don’t care what people think, I care what my friends and family think,” he said, adding, “Right now it’s focusing on the present, focusing on the next steps, next opportunities, and the next things that I wanna do for fun.”
The following month, Iris and TJ Palma stepped out as an official couple...and now, just a few weeks after Iris and TJ’s hard-launch, it seems as though Pepe is alleging that Iris is the one who cheated.
As a reminder, Iris was first spotted with TJ way back in July, when she was still purportedly dating Pepe. The two were photographed hanging out upon their return to L.A., where they reportedly “went on a walk and talk for about two hours before going into his place,” per TMZ.
When asked about the situation on the Sorry, We’re Cyrus podcast, Pepe recalled how fans started urging him to “leave” Iris after the initial sighting with TJ. “I just said, ‘It is the first day. I don’t think anyone deserves hate,’” he said. “I don’t think anyone deserves that. No one knows the truth or what happened. I had her back on that one.”
But once cheating rumors flipped to him ahead of the reunion, he started feeling less generous. “To have it—in a few weeks—flip and have it happen to me, and through everything, not have the same support, not say anything about it… I will just stay quiet because I know the truth,” he continued. “It is a weird situation because she is now back with the guy she had a cheating scandal with.”
So...did Iris cheat on Pepe with TJ? Pepe didn’t say for sure, but he did tell hosts Tish and Brandi that he wasn’t thrilled to see his ex spending time with TJ again.
“How do you jump from one person to the next?” he added. “And the next person is apparently someone she did something with, and it isn’t clocking to people?”
Catch Pepe’s full convo with Brandi and Tish Cyrus on the Sorry, We’re Cyrus podcast, below.
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