#Jordyn Woods Talks ‘Letting Go Of Shame’ & Why She’s ‘Happy’ After The Tristan Thompson Cheating Scandal

It’s been over a year since the 23-year-old model was caught in the crosshairs of a cheating scandal involving professional basketball player Tristan Thompson and his baby momma Khloé Kardashian and since then, all three parties have long moved on with their respective lives.

The KUWTK star and NBA basketball player are said to be back like they never left while Miz Woods has moved on with another famous athlete in Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl Anthony Towns. (BTW, in case you missed it, he showered Kylie Jenner‘s ex-BFF with TONS of expensive gifts for her birthday earlier this week on September 23!)

Related: Did Jordyn Woods Just Take A Shot At Kylie Jenner?! See The Evidence!

But Jordyn has gained more than a new man and some fancy gifts since that life-changing drama went down: she’s gained plenty of perspective, too.

In a lengthy new chat for the YouTube series Now With Natalie (conducted before the coronavirus pandemic), the influencer told host Natalie Manuel Lee all about dealing with public shame and how she took her life back after nearly getting canceled for the now infamous tryst. The ladies cover several important sides of the topic, so we’ve broken it all down the highlights for you (below):

On the Online Backlash and Pain That Came From the Scandal

Jordyn said grappling with the fallout from the night she made out with Tristan took her to a “very dark place” and the experience was made worse by losing her closest friend along with millions of strangers hating her, too:

“I just couldn’t trust anyone… everything in my life changed. To be honest, when people say things to you it’s a reflection of how they feel inside. If you feel the need to go out of your way to say something negative about someone, it’s most likely because you’re not happy with something internally. I’ve had to deal with internet bullies and bullies, so this is nothing new to me. This was just on a much, much larger scale. Of course, some days it hurts. For the most part, it doesn’t really affect me—other people’s opinions. I feel if I allow it to, I would not be who I am today. I would not feel comfortable not leaving my house.”

On How She Accepted the Scandal and Dealt With the Public Shaming

In addition to her headline-making interview on Jada Pinkett Smith‘s Red Table Talk show, the model said she had internal conversations about how to take accountability for what she did:

“I think the first step in that is acceptance. Looking at the situation… What did I do? What role did I play in this? How was I responsible? How can I be held accountable? How can I take responsibility for what happened. Things happened and that’s what makes us human… I feel like people in this generation lack accountability. And when you can’t accept what you’ve done, or you can’t accept that, then you can’t heal from it. It’s easy to beat yourself up over things you could’ve done differently, but you can’t hold on to what you could’ve or should’ve done. You just have to accept what actually happened and then you can let it go. I think that letting go of shame is learning how to accept what’s happened.”

On Her Faith Leading Her Through Life’s Tough Moments

Jordyn placed a special emphasis on how her faith helped her get through a mental health spiral after her father John Woods back in 2017 and how it comforted her again years later when she needed it most:

“In that case and in that moment, I did feel like everything was against me. And the only thing I really had to lean on was my faith and my family.”

She added:

“My not being still led to this explosion in my life. So I think it was deeper than what happened on one night. It was God sitting me down like, ‘Look, pay attention. You haven’t sat still for three years almost and you need to understand that your purpose is much bigger than you… What you’re doing right now doesn’t matter. Sit down, pay attention.’”

On How She Feels With The Scandal In Her Rearview

Back in February, Jordyn declared she was done apologizing for what happened with Khloé’s man, and during the chat, she emphasized why she’s “happy” to put the teachable moment behind her:

“I’m not happy that people were hurt and people had to go through what they went through. It was a lot for everyone, my family, other families, friends, and not in a million years have I ever had a negative intention to do anything bad to anyone that I love. So I wouldn’t say that I’m happy that something like that happened but I’m happy that I was able to become who I am today.”

Wow. Very insightful stuff and though True Thompson‘s momma would surely roll her eyes at these quotes, it really does sound like this young woman has forged ahead on a promising path, all things considered. We have to respect the desire not to be defined by one mistake for the rest of her life, right?

If you’re interested in checking out the full 30-minute conversation, you can watch it for yourself here:

Perezcious readers, did any of this change your perspective on Jordy? Any other reactions to share about how things have been progressing with Koko and Tristan lately?

Sound OFF with all of your opinions (below) in the comments!

[Image via Avalon/Apega/Instar/WENN]