‘Love Island: Beyond the Villa’s Amaya Espinal Talks Keeping Her New Romance Private: ‘It Feels Good’ (Exclusive)

Amaya Espinal may have entered the spotlight on Love Island USA Season 7, but she’s now dedicated to keeping her love life off-camera.

The Love Island: Beyond the Villa star opened up to PopCulture.com about finding love again following her split from fellow Season 7 winner Bryan Arenales and her decision to keep her new romance out of the public eye, saying it “feels good” to be keeping things low-key for now.

“I feel great,” Espinal told PopCulture while discussing her partnership with Corona Sunbrew. “You know, [whether] I’m with someone … or by myself, I’m going to always make sure that the self-love is there. As long as they’re my best friend and they’re making me feel good, then they will always be in my life.”

The Peacock reality personality added that she “definitely” sees the difference between her public relationship with Arenales and her more private romance. “I just don’t like to feel like I’m just having to validate any type of relationship through social media, so it feels good to be private,” she said, adding that her favorite times with her new love are “intimate moments where it’s just like small things — holding hands, walking down the street, or just going on a jet ski.”

Beyond the Villa fans watched Espinal and Arenales sit down to bury the hatchet in this week’s Season 2 episodes, and Espinal said it “really does feel good” having had the “mature, tough” conversation.

“It really felt good to just be able to say, ‘We didn’t work out. I wish you the best and goodbye,’” she reflected, hinting that there are “some things that unravel” later on this season.

“So everyone definitely needs to be tuning in to Beyond the Villa and making sure that they have the perfect Corona Sunbrew in hand,” she said.

Espinal called her partnership with Corona Sunbrew the “perfect pairing,” as she’s just as “bold” and “vibrant” as the refreshing summer beverage.

Fans of Beyond the Villa can also get a chance to win a weekend getaway in Los Angeles curated by Espinal for “one of [her] lucky papayas” herself. “This is going to be like a meet-and-greet and also how it feels to live in LA with the perfect Corona Sunbrew,” the reality star said. “So good energy, good vibes.”

To enter to win the curated three-day, two-night trip to Los Angeles for two people (ages 21 and up), fans can text the keyword SUNBREW to shortcode 20102 from now through July 31.

As the one-year anniversary of her Love Island USA debut draws closer, Espinal told PopCulture that it feels like “the blink of an eye” since she made her TV debut. As for what she would say to herself before she stepped into the villa for the first time, Espinal shared, “I would definitely say, ‘Girl, you have no idea what you’re signing up for. You have no idea how fast your life is about to change.’”