Jo De La Rosa Confirms She Ended Her Second Engagement and Teases Some Big Plans for Her Future
The RHOC alum sheds some light on her former romance and why she decided to call it off.
In her first Instagram post since December 2016, The Real Housewives of Orange County alum Jo De La Rosa broke her social media silence to announce that she had called off her engagement to Mark Lovette, the CEO and founder of the media company Empire Digital. The pair had become engaged in November 2015. It's unclear when she ended things with Mark, but she did offer some insight into why on social media.
“'I’m just not happy anymore and I want to build the life of my dreams,' I cried to my mom with tears rolling down my face. I had just called off my second engagement and felt like my world was falling apart," she shared in the lengthy and emotional post on Instagram. RHOC viewers will recall she had been previously engaged to Slade Smiley (clip below), who is now engaged to and expecting a baby with Gretchen Rossi.
The post continues, “'Then you should go do that,' she responded as she gave me a hug. 'It’s too late to start over. What if I’m not good enough? What if I fail?' I replied. 'What if you don’t?' she responded so I packed up everything I had and moved back to L.A."
Jo, who appeared on RHOC for the first two seasons, noted that "starting over is hard" and went on to describe how she's feeling these days in the wake of her split and starting over again. As she noted, she moved to Los Angeles, but didn't offer any additional info on what she's currently up to in the City of Angels these days. In 2016, she confirmed to The Daily Dish she had been working in advertising and was also on the verge of launching her own fashion, beauty, and lifestyle site, Champagne & Milk.
"Posting on social media pretending like your life is 'perfect' going through it for me was even harder. Sometimes you need to step away, figure out what the hell you’re doing with your life, cry until you can’t cry anymore. Then one day, you wipe the tears from your eyes and you’re able to stand back up trusting that God or whatever you believe in has you as you start your life over again."
When The Daily Dish spoke to Jo back in 2016, she described Mark as "one of the most incredible men in my life and the person I was truly supposed to be with," she said. "I really felt like I found the person that I was [meant for]. I really feel like God brought me more than I could have ever prayed for and I'm really happy. He's wonderful."
However, it seems, something changed for them. "I lost myself in my last relationship and learning how to believe in myself again has been one of the hardest parts of my journey but what’s even harder is looking back and knowing you settled for a life you didn’t truly love," she wrote.
You can read her full statement, below.
