Copyright Vulture
Only one cast member from season nine of Love Is Blind attracted the paparazzi to Denver, Colorado. From the moment Megan Walerius made her appearance in the pods, Netflix gave her a main-character edit: Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl” soundtracked her walk, the camera zooming in on the glittering shoes and jewelry befitting her nickname, Sparkle Megan. “The biggest reason I think I’m still single, honestly, is that men are intimidated by me — by how I live, my level of success, the car I drive, the house I live in,” she said in her first confessional. Despite real-estate investor Mike Brockway’s best efforts to woo her, Walerius got engaged to Jordan Keltner, a single dad working as a branch service manager and chugging baked-chicken smoothies on the daily. Even though Keltner didn’t exactly jump at Walerius’s casual suggestion to go in on a $500,000 loan for a home together, it initially seemed like they might be able to make their often-cited “lifestyle differences” work — during his tux fitting, Keltner suggested that Walerius would have to slap Luca in the face for him to back out. But Walerius eventually called off the ceremony, arguing that she and Keltner were like “ships in the night”: She wanted to be with someone who had free time to spend with her and was happy to fill the silence after long, quiet days at work. Although Walerius left the finale wondering if she was ready to be a mom, she gave birth to son Brooks with her partner, Paul, just a few months before the reunion. “I can stand here today and say I’m very confident in my motherhood. It was one of the best decisions,” she says. “I’m so glad I didn’t let those doubts overcome me being a mom.” You did end up buying a home in Denver. What’s the numerology — does the address add up to what you were looking for? Yeah, so I am in a “three” home now, which is all about family, party — very social. The one con to a three home is definitely the tendency to overspend. [Laughs.] And that’s been true. I did a whole home remodel — my favorite part was my bedroom, we kind of went for Emily in Paris vibes — and I went a little over budget. But that’s all right. If that’s the worst thing about the home, I’ll take it. You said Jordan reached out after someone DM’d him claiming you had a baby with Mike. If that hadn’t happened, when would you have chosen to tell Jordan you were a mom? Did you want it to be at the reunion? I was always planning to let Jordan know ahead of time. But since I had been keeping this news very close to my chest throughout my whole pregnancy, I was waiting until the last minute. Jordan and I had talked about meeting up and grabbing lunch before we went to the reunion, but whoever this person was kind of beat me to the punch. There were obviously falsities in that message, but I was like, Man, if this is even remotely getting out there, I want to be the one to tell him and have the correct narrative. Did Jordan already know you were in a relationship, or was that part of the news? I don’t think he did. After we ended things, we didn’t speak for probably close to a year. And I didn’t really hang out with a lot of people from the pod squad. I kept my personal life separate from everybody, so I don’t think he would have even heard through the grapevine. It sounds like the Denver cast spent a lot of time together after production. Why did you decide not to be as involved? This experiment was so intense. It was hard for me to move on and be on my healing journey while around all the other people. Plus I was moving back from L.A. towards the end of filming, and in May and June, I moved back to Denver. When they were hanging out, I wasn’t even here. They all had a lot of fun, it sounds like. I wasn’t at that pool party. Did you stay connected online? We have one big group chain on Instagram that’s all the guys and girls. I think some people have removed themselves, which, I don’t blame them, but it’s fun. Today everybody was chiming in and wishing Patrick a happy birthday. Us girls have one that’s not super active, and I think there are a couple side chats. It seems like a lot of people came to the reunion feeling some type of way about Kacie. What was that like for you to see as her friend? I wouldn’t say it was surprising. But I think people need to give her a little bit of grace. At the end of the day, we’re all human. We make mistakes. Sure, we might not handle things in the best way, but I feel for her. It breaks my heart to see the hate and backlash she’s getting. I hope people can be a little more kind. She was the only one from the cast you initially told about your pregnancy. What was the funniest or most unhinged excuse you gave someone for not seeing them while you were keeping it a secret? I think I just said, “I’m super busy right now.” ’Cause even Jordan was reaching out and was like, “Hey, let’s grab lunch.” And I was like, “Yeah … maybe in a couple months when my schedule calms down a bit!” Were there ever any plans to involve Luca in the wedding? Yeah. Jordan and Luca’s mom weren’t comfortable having Luca on camera for the majority of the experiment, which is totally valid. As we approached the wedding, everybody was kind of going back and forth on his involvement, and Skylar finally did agree to let him be there. So that was another deciding factor for me — for Jordan and I together. I think onscreen, the breakup comes as a little bit of a shock, but that whole week we were in communication about it. We both made the decision that we’re not taking this to the altar if the answer is no. Yeah, I think a breakup at the wedding would’ve been tough if Luca was there — confusing for a kid. Very. You’ve said that when you first met Luca, Jordan introduced you as someone he was going to marry and live with. Did that catch you off guard? I did not know that was how he was going to approach it. At the time we were super strong, and Jordan was very confident that was going to happen. I was too. But it did put a lot of pressure on that whole situation. I think Jordan even acknowledged that in hindsight, he probably would have done things differently. Did you want a chance to say good-bye to Luca or explain the breakup to him? I totally followed Jordan’s lead. There was a portion of the breakup scene that was not shown where I did ask Jordan, “Is there anything I can do?” And he politely said, “No, I’ll handle it.” One of the factors you weighed with Mike was whether he was too similar to the type of man you usually date. Did you have that concern when you met your new partner, Paul? No. The online chatter about Paul is cracking me up, and we’re having a lot of fun with it. They’re like, “real-estate tycoon” — he’s not even in real estate! The things that are being said are hilarious. Paul is far different from other men I dated. Like, yeah, we’re more aligned in where we’re at financially and the life that we live. But he’s very emotionally intelligent. We both did this wellness retreat called the Hoffman Process. It’s basically a personal-development bootcamp. It’s a very intense, introspective process that forces you to dig deep into patterns you’ve learned in the past from both mother and father. We have done a lot of work on ourselves. Paul’s actually teaching me a lot about being vulnerable. I know you do that in the pods, but I feel like it’s totally different face to face, especially meeting somebody new. He’s been amazing with that. How did you first find out about the paparazzi pictures of you, Paul, and Brooks? What’s funny is there was never a shot of the three of us together, or me with baby. Paul had a buddy who was riding his bike, and went out to go say hi to him. And they got me while I was out running errands. I don’t remember who first texted me about it, but my first concern was the safety of my son. Even if they’re harmless, just knowing somebody’s following you and watching you is scary. So unfortunately, this past week, we’ve basically been hiding in the house. I’ve gotten out to do a couple errands here and there, but it’s like, no way I’m bringing my baby out now. Some people online were like, “Is she calling the paparazzi on herself?” No. And if you look at the pictures, it’s like, I would have looked a lot cuter. Thanks, people. In the finale, you wondered if you were ready to be a mom. When you got pregnant, how much of a worry was that for you? This is another misconception going around online, people thinking this baby was an oopsie. Paul and I were trying. Even so, it’s still scary when you get pregnant. Like, am I ready for this? I definitely had some doubts, but I let myself have those. And looking back, it almost makes me sad that I was so unsure. You’ve said that motherhood has taught you selflessness. Is there anything you feel like you’ve had to give up or cut back on because of Brooks? I mean, he’s only 3 months old, so obviously those first two months, you’re not living your normal life, going out to dinners, or traveling … or getting sleep, especially. I’m a big sleeper, so that’s been an adjustment, but it’s so worth it. One thing I’m learning as he gets a bit older is that you can still live the life you want and be a good mom. Now that the three of us are able to be open with this news, I am excited for us to travel. We already brought him to L.A. for the reunion, and that was fun. And even before the show was announced, we would go out to brunches and lunches and dinners, me, Paul, and baby. I’m trying to adopt what I feel like is the European way of baby: They fit into your life and not the other way around. There’s some adjustments we’ve had to make, and I’m more than happy to do that, but it’s been refreshing to see that we can maintain some semblance of normalcy and have our baby with us to enjoy that. In the show, your work schedule seemed pretty flexible. I was wondering what that balance looks like now that you’re a mom. How many hours do you work a week? Truthfully, since moving back to Denver and finishing the show, I put that business on the back burner. And certainly now, becoming a mom — my partners in L.A. are still running with it, but I stepped aside for obvious reasons. It’s been a refreshing change to focus 100 percent on baby and family, when before, my career was kind of my purpose. I’m sure I’ll pick back up the businesses someday, but it was nice to take a break. Have you and Paul talked about getting married? Marriage is definitely on the forefront. We’ve had many conversations about it. We actually almost got engaged this past fall, but with how expedited the show was, I was like, “Hold on a second. Let’s take a breather.” And I’m glad. We’ve been together for a little over a year now. We’ve had some ups and downs, but it’s been good for us to learn about each other, especially now with baby and navigating how we parent. But we’re super happy and even talking about more kids, so. How many kids do you want? I mean, for sure at least another one. If it were up to Paul, we would have five. I’m like, “Yeah, you can carry the baby.” [Laughs.] No, I was very lucky, I had a pretty smooth pregnancy. Is there anything else you wish you’d gotten to talk about at the reunion? The biggest thing I hope people take away is that Jordan and I are good. We both went through a period of heartbreak and healing. Even though I was the one to end things, I was really struggling for a while. I feel like I’m being painted out to be the bad guy. At the end of the day, I made the decision that was best for me, and I stand by that 1,000 percent. There’s still some haters out there, so I hope people see that Jordan and I are very amicable and supportive of one another. I still speak very highly of him, and I always will. I’m sure he will find an amazing woman, and I wish nothing but the best for him. I’m proud of both of us for how we’ve handled this whole thing very maturely. Have you read Jordan’s children’s book, Dear Luca? I have not. But I did message him saying that I need to buy a few — one for Brooks, especially. I think that would be a good gift for this holiday season.
