Jill Martin has revealed that she is engaged to her ex-fiancé, Erik Brooks.
Things are different this time around though, the "Today" contributor has revealed in an essay in which she opens up about their break up, and about how they later reconnected.
The split came just over 18 months ago. They did not see one another, they did not speak. The very thought was too painful, Martin admitted.
"Even though we were fighting and hurting each other to what I thought was an irreparable place, I never thought our relationship would break. But it did," she recalled of the painful day they decided to part ways. Their relationship had lasted for three years but "the lows became more overwhelming than the highs."
"It wasn’t working," Martin admitted. "We were arguing more than we were getting along. Energetically, the timing wasn’t right. We both still needed to grow. It took falling apart to build ourselves back together."
In May 2020, Martin shared news of their split, saying that the COVID-19 pandemic had taken a toll on the couple's long-distance relationship.
"It's such a difficult time for everyone," she said in a statement to People at the time. "Erik is the most magnificent person, but with him living in Boston with his children, and me living in New York, the distance just became too difficult for us to maintain the kind of relationship that’s important to us both."
After 18 months of no contact, Martin decided one night to call Brooks. She said he was surprised and needed to take time to process their conversation but then they began to "learn about each other again."
"We wanted to make sure this time would be different. Better," Martin wrote. "I love the way Erik loves me, but I also love how I feel about myself when I am with him. I am the best version of myself when we are together. I feel confident, smart and happy. We laugh all the time. While we still fight sometimes, we limit the drama. Misunderstandings that used to last for a weekend now last minutes."
The first time Brooks proposed, it was an extravagant affair but this time he kept it low-key, instead proposing while they were on a small fishing boat in the Bahamas.
"It was just the two of us and, lucky for us, a couple on another nearby boat told us afterward that they took a picture of us while Erik was proposing," Martin said. "Thank goodness they happened to be in that spot in the middle of the ocean — the snapshot later took my breath away. Erik simply said, 'I can’t wait to spend the rest of forever with you.' And we were engaged. Again."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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