During Alexis’ first stint on the show, she and Jim were happily married. But after her exit, the marriage ended, and she eventually crossed paths with John. The new romance got serious quickly, and now they’re discussing the idea of marriage. Some fans, however, think John is using her for fame.

On The LadyGang podcast, Alexis shared that doing reality TV is “taxing” on her “mental health,” and she sometimes “beat[s]” herself “up” for saying certain things on camera.

She then addressed the “misconception” that the show asked her to return simply because she’s dating Shannon’s ex.

“When I was being talked to about coming back on the show, I didn’t even know John’s name,” she said. “He wasn’t even in my hemisphere at all … John was not even a thought or a nothing.”

“[Then after we met] we stayed friends and tried not to date, knowing what this would do and be like,” shared Alexis. “We wouldn’t kiss or touch or do anything because we were like, ‘If we become something, this has to be like legitimate, like real. Because otherwise, we are going to be the villains.’”

Taylor said she was an “emotional basket case” while filming because her mom had just passed away three months earlier – on the same week she broke up with her fiancé. She suggested that, at the time, she was in a “dark” place and was in danger of becoming a “statistic” if she hadn’t “pick[ed]” herself “up.”

“The whole time [John] was picking up all these broken pieces of my mom and all that and just putting … pieces back together for me. He was building me back up,” she said. “If people say he got you at a vulnerable time, yeah he probably did. But guess what, he’s my rock.”

Alexis claimed they met at The Quiet Woman restaurant when John was hanging out with a mutual friend. The mutual friend introduced the two of them, and they all decided to sit at the same table, where they started “powwowing.”

She also claimed the rumors about John are untrue, and they come from an “uncredible” source, which viewers will see later in the season. Taylor indicated that John previously didn’t want to be on camera during his relationship with Shannon because “certain things” were happening “behind the scenes,” and they didn’t have a “good relationship.”

“It wasn’t [that] he was so scared of being on camera. She was trying to cover up some of the things that was happening behind the scenes and then saying ‘Oh he doesn’t want to be on camera,’” said Alexis. “There’s so much more to the truth of that.”

“He actually offered to pay me what they were going to pay me to not go back on the show,” said Alexis. “He’s like, ‘I love you enough. I don’t want you to do it. It’s a toxic world, and you know our relationship is too pure and great and I don’t want them to rip this up.’”

Alexis said she previously quit her old job when she met ex-husband Jim because they wanted to raise a family.

So she told John, “I love you but I have to do this for me. I already did this with Jim. I’m not going to make that mistake again … because I had a psychic reading and my mom said you need to go back, because I was saying no to Bravo [at the time].”

Alexis decided to film because her mom told her in the psychic reading: “Girlfriend, Jesus didn’t take the wheel, I did. Now you get your big girl pants on and you go … You’re going back.”

Though John didn’t film with her this season, she said he’s done “red carpets” and isn’t “shy about being out.”

Alexis denied that she broke “girl code” with Shannon because she didn’t “know” Shannon at all when the romance began.

Alexis said she and her ex-husband Jim are “friendly,” and he’s even met John. When she told Jim she was returning to the show, he allegedly responded with something to the effect of: “Yeah, like everybody needs a job and you need to do something to get out of bed.”

“[Then Jim] called me after the first episode and was like, ‘Wow you nailed that. Like good job. I’m so proud of you.’”