‘Love Is Blind’: Jarrette Jones Opens up About What Led to Divorce From Iyanna McNeely

Jarette Jones is opening up about why he feels his marriage to Iyana McNeely didn’t survive. The couple became engaged blindly on Season 2 of Netflix’s LLove Is Blind but lifestyle changes ultimately led to their split. For starters, though, Jones says the timeline of their relationship was a problem from the start. “A fool would sit here and tell you that you’re ready to get engaged and married in seven weeks. But if there’s enough there for you to be like, ‘You know what, I think that I want to take this leap of faith,’ and it’s something that’s pulling you toward this person, I’m going to take this chance. And it can either be successful, or in my case, it cannot be successful,” he said on the We Are the Brand podcast. He continued: “But once those seven weeks were over and we were now meshing our lives together, then we started to really see that we really don’t know each other, we’re really trying, but this is just really not working.”

Jones reveals that the couple had been in counseling since Dec. 2021, going three to four times a month to try and salvage their relationship. But he says he feels that Iyanna was impatient with him and didn’t give him enough time to make the lifestyle changes she requested. In the After the Altar special, McNeely complained of Jones’ party-boy lifestyle. She said he’d come home at 7 am most nights after a night of drinking with friends. At one point, her mother tearfully confronts Jones about how his behavior affects McNeely. Jones’ parents also believe that Jones’ friends may be trying to sabotage his relationship due to jealousy by suggesting he party as hard. But in the end, it didn’t work. 

Still, he says McNeely didn’t give him much grace and that a year of marriage isn’t long enough to make such a decision. “When it comes to partner or someone I’m going to decide to dedicate myself to, I need somebody that’s going to be my co-captain. I need somebody that’s going to hold down the fort if I’m not there, somebody that’s going to trust me. I need somebody that’s going to be honest with me. And I also need somebody that’s going to grow and compromise,” he said. “And somebody that’s going to be patient…Change takes time. I have to train myself, i have to train my mind.”

He says McNeely initiated the divorce conversation, and in the end, he agreed because he was exhausted and felt that she was over it.