‘Love Island USA’: Trina Shares the Important Message She Wants Fans to Know About Experience (Exclusive)

Trina Njoroge’s journey on Love Island was a bit of a rollercoaster ride. While she initially coupled up with Jeremy Hershberg, it was her relationship with Melvin “Cinco” Holland Jr. that thrust her into some love triangle drama alongside her good friend Cashay “Cash” Proudfoot. After leaving the Villa, Trina took some time to chat with PopCulture.com all about her experience. During the chat, Trina discussed everything from her relationship with Andre Brunelli to how she feels about that love triangle drama now.

Right before the Season 3 finale, Trina and Andre, whom she was coupled up with, were dumped after their fellow Islanders decided that they were the least compatible. Even though Trina and Andre’s connection didn’t become romantic while in the Villa, she did express her interest in him. So, where do the two stand today? Trina explained that she and Andre are “really great friends.” She added that they “both want to take it slow to get to know each other better, but we’re willing to explore if it can take us to a romantic level. […] We actually FaceTimed yesterday and we were talking about our experience and we still want to make connections with each other. It’s just that we want to give each other time to actually debrief and then see where it goes from there.”

While she didn’t leave the show in a romantic couple, she did leave with something more important — a renewed sense of confidence in herself. When asked what she’s taking away from the experience, she said that she has no regrets about how everything turned out because she’s “stronger overall” for it. “I used to think that expressing yourself and being vulnerable was a sign of weakness,” Trina said. “But, it’s actually, even my friends will remind me like, no, you’re strong, you’re a strong individual. For you to actually put your guard down and allowing others to get to know you was a strength that we didn’t know that you had trained up. But, eventually I showed it and everyone loved it.”

Of course, fans know that much of Trina’s time on Love Island tied back to Cash and Cinco. As for where she stands with the both of them today, she wishes them nothing but the best. She also explained that if they all can move past the drama, then the fans should be able to, as well. Trina said that she and Cash are more so in a “sisterhood versus a friendship at this point.” She continued, “You know, like the first thing I did when I left the hotel was FaceTime passion. We were just talking about the overwhelming experience and the fans and stuff. And we really just want people to take into consideration. Yes, you are entitled to your own opinion, but if you can see them working over this and moving forward, then they should do the same as well.”

Since fans weren’t able to everything that Trina experienced on Love Island, there is still so much about her that viewers may not know. One of the biggest things that she wants Love Island viewers to know is that she will always speak out about the importance of putting one’s mental health first. Trina, who is a psychiatric nurse, said, “one thing I do want to do with my platform is really advocate for mental health because that was a struggle that I was going through. Ironically, being in the mental health field, I felt like my mind was deteriorating […] because it was a lot of stress and a lot of emotions.”

“And I just want to be the voice for others, but feel like it’s hard to speak out about their mental health,” she continued. “I wanted them to just break the stigma and everything and make sure that they know that there’s also a light at the end of the tunnel. And you can overcome this as well. Like I did; I feel relieved. I feel great.”

All episodes of Season 3 of Love Island are currently available to stream on Paramount+. Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by ViacomCBS Streaming, a division of ViacomCBS.