‘Vanderpump Rules’: Kim Suarez Reveals She and Marcus Johnson Split for 3 Months After Filming (Exclusive)

Vanderpump Rules couple Kim Suarez and Marcus Johnson are stronger today than ever — but it wasn’t easy for the pair to overcome the issues that kept them at odds throughout the season.

Kim opened up about her relationship to PopCulture.com ahead of Tuesday’s all-new episode of the Bravo show, revealing that she and Marcus took a three-month break after filming Season 12 to work through the unhealthy “pattern” they had developed during their first year together.

Looking back on the ups and downs of the on-again, off-again stage of their relationship this season, Kim said she and Marcus were “fighting for our lives and for our relationship so much,” that the breaking up and getting back together “became this pattern a little bit.”

“After filming and everything happened when we wrapped the show, we took a break,” she revealed, clarifying that it was an “actual real break” instead of the ones for which they’d become known at SUR.

“We took a three-month-long break, because I think there was so much individually that we had to work out,” she continued. “There was a lot of resentment we held towards each other for the year that we had had, and it just wasn’t working. If you’re breaking up with somebody every day, you shouldn’t be together. So I think we just needed to kind of be separate.”

The time apart “really helped,” and Kim assured viewers that she and Marcus are doing “way, way better now.”

Watching the show back has forced the couple to confront old issues, however. “It’s really hard, to be honest,” Kim confessed, adding that it’s been difficult to “go back to that place” and rehash some of the conflicts that they thought had already been resolved.

“It’s definitely been difficult, the last, I would say month or so, for us going through it, but we have way better communication now, and he’s been really, really great,” she said. “We’ve gotten through it, thankfully, but it’s definitely tough to relive the hardest parts of your relationship.”

“I don’t think most people could survive the year that we’ve had with [Marcus’] parents passing away, us filming this show, and now it airing and everyone seeing our worst parts,” Kim told PopCulture. “It’s a lot for a couple in the first year of their relationship.”

Despite the hard times, Kim said she and Marcus continue to remind themselves why they keep coming back to one another through it all. “If after all this, we’re still choosing each other,” she asked, “doesn’t that speak for itself?”

Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo and streams the next day on Peacock.