Kelly Chase Opens Up About Her Mental Health Journey Post “Love Is Blind”
Since starring in the first season of Love Is Blind in 2018, Kelly Chase has been vocal about the impact reality TV can have on mental health. She shared her personal experience at the Wildly Better Well-Being event in NYC, celebrating the launch of Roxanne Kaiser’s Proxy gummies on June 21.
After the show, Kelly found her mental health in a bad place. “You’re in such a confined container for eight weeks and you get to know someone so quickly, so you get to know so many people on such an intense deep level in such a short period of time, and then it’s just gone,” she shared.
To cope with her feelings of depression, Kelly sought help from a mindset coach. “She brought to light a lot of the things I was struggling with,” Kelly said. Initially, she approached the coach for a different reason, but the coach quickly identified deeper issues that needed addressing.
Kelly revealed that working with her coach was essential for her recovery. According to her, she and the coach went through everything from the show, which she described as “very traumatic.”
At the time, Kelly was running her own health coaching company but felt unable to show up for her clients effectively. “I wasn’t in a good place to show up for clients, so I felt like my business was failing,” she revealed.
One of the toughest challenges for Kelly was dealing with the sudden influx of social media followers after the show aired in February 2020. She turned down her fiancé, Kenny Barnes, at the altar, which only intensified public interest in her life.
“I use the expression self-abandonment. I’m a recovering people pleaser, and I know that I was just doing what I felt like my audience wanted versus just showing up 100% authentically as I am. Or I would see maybe one other castmate create some type of content, and I was like, ‘Oh, they got like a gazillion likes. I’ll create something similar.’ Not that I’m different online, but there was something off,” she stated.
The pressure was overwhelming, and Kelly would wake up at 3 a.m. to watch new episodes of her season, leaving her sleep-deprived and emotional. “I just remember sitting on the couch being so emotional and crying,” she shared.
Support from her castmates and her mindset coach helped Kelly navigate this tough period. She stays in touch with season 1 alums Jessica Batten, Damian Powers, Giannina Gibelli, and Lauren “LC” Chamblin. She also reached out to season 3’s Nancy Rodriguez and season 5’s Stacy Snyder.
“Definitely season 2 and 3, I reached out to the cast to be like, ‘Just offering my hand. If you need me, I’m here if you want to talk about anything. I know what you’re maybe going to go through if you have any questions.’ Because I didn’t have that support and because their friends don’t know unless they’ve done reality TV,” she stated.
Despite the challenges, Kelly doesn’t regret her time on the show. “It was a great experience, and I don’t regret saying ‘yes’ to being a part of it,” she said. Recently, she has started to feel more like herself again. “It’s been hard, but meeting people and the opportunities have been a blessing.”
Interestingly, Kelly is open to returning to reality TV. “When we were wrapping my last filming day, my producer was like, ‘Would you do this again?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely. If there was not a wedding at the end,” she shared.
Going further, she added, “If I could do it again, I would definitely do things differently. Honestly, put me on anything else. I don’t know if it’s the Leo in me, but I really like the spotlight. I’m not camera shy. And seeing the impact and the connection that you can create from it, I’m like, I want to do more.”
