Danielle Ruhl is focused on forging ahead with life after the altar.
More than one month after the Love Is Blind star filed to divorce from husband Nick Thompson after one year of marriage, the reality TV star is opening up about her journey beyond their romance and subsequent split.
(As a refresher, the two tied the knot during the Netflix series' Season 2 finale and announced their split just weeks before After the Altar debuted in mid-September).
"Obviously, breakups are hard," Danielle exclusively told E! News. "They're always going to be hard. It's been a pretty difficult time and then re-watching After the Altar just kind of adds an additional element of feelings to everything. There's ups and downs. You just have to ride the wave."
As for fans who wonder about their breakup happening on the heels of After the Altar—during which the two seemed on the road of happily ever after—Danielle noted that viewers are still catching up on events that occurred months ago.
"The one thing that I get asked about a lot is like, ‘Oh, you guys seem so perfect during After the Altar," she shared. "But I think it's also important to remember that was filmed in March. And just because we were going [until] March doesn't mean that we necessarily didn't have certain difficulties leading up until, when we decided to end the relationship."
As for why the couple decided to call it quits? There's simply not one clear-cut answer.
"Everyone's wanting some sort of big story when that wasn't necessarily the case," Danielle explained. "It was hard to speak about it at first because of how raw the emotions were and still are. But also, it's not that interesting of a story. It was just two people decided that it was best to go their separate ways."
She continued, "There was no catastrophe that had happened. And a lot of people had also assumed that there was some sort of incentive for the couples to stay together for a year and that wasn't the case."
In fact, Danielle had a message for critics who think their romance was all for show.
"We weren't faking anything," she said. "We didn't stay together for a year because it was fake—we truly love each other, and that's why this breakup was incredibly hard, it's why it's taken us so long to talk about it. But again, like it's you have to think about the fact that it was a while ago."
Danielle also spoke about filing for divorce just days after co-stars Iyanna McNeely and Jarrette Jones also announced their breakup on Aug. 17.
"It was purely coincidental that the divorces happened at the same time," Danielle said. "It wasn't planned. There was nothing behind the scenes that happened. It is kind of crazy that it did happen at the same time, but there was no strategy behind it."
While she's technically single now, that doesn't mean that fans should expect to hear any updates about Danielle's dating life just yet. "I don't think I'll be ready to date anytime soon," she shared. "It takes me a long time to get over people. We're still going through the divorce process. Dating is not in my near-term feature right now."
As far as what is in Danielle's near-term future right now? The 29-year-old has working been working on new music, which is available on her YouTube channel. Danielle also revealed that she shared one of her very first songs with Nick prior to their split.
"I showed him one of them because one of the things that we did relate on was mental health and something that we're both passionate about, and he cried," she shared. "Just because obviously, he knows me. But that was just another reason where I'm like, ‘It does resonate with other people.' But, he's fully supportive."
And with all that support, even after they've parted ways, as Danielle believes, there is room for friendship at some point down the line.
"He's a great guy," Danielle said of Nick. "Just because it didn't work out like in the way that we had hoped, I would love to be friends in the future. I think it's a little bit raw right now. So, it's kind of difficult, but we went through something that no one else in the world has."