Jackelina Bonds was crying over her dad’s cancer battle during her confusing emotional breakdown on the newly released episodes of “Love Is Blind.”
“My father at the time was fighting Stage 2 Head and Neck Cancer, had a feeding tube in his stomach, had the back of his tongue removed and had 11 cancerous lymph nodes removed from his neck a few months before I filmed the show,” Bonds, 27, wrote in an Instagram post Monday.
At the time of her spiral, Bonds was overwhelmed with guilt for being on a lavish vacation with her new fiancé Marshall Glaze while her family was home and struggling.
“I felt guilty being happy and enjoying my time in Mexico because my family deserves time away,” she said. “My ‘mental breakdown’ in Mexico was all the emotions of being head of the house, having my family depending on me and having the weight of my emotions and feelings all colliding at once.”
“I will always take care of my father, cancer will never take him from me. ❤️,” she added.
The dental assistant explained that she is responsible for taking care of her dad and other family members.
“I come home every weekend to make sure I pay his bills, clean the house, and make sure my father and mother are good,” she said.
Bonds also shared that her brother was recently released from prison, so she has yet another person to look after.
“I have a lot of family stuff that I have to tend to. Family always comes first,” she told Entertainment Weekly last week without specifying why her brother had served time.
Bonds was celebrating her engagement to Glaze with her castmates at a beautiful Mexico resort on Season 4 of the Netflix show when she inexplicably broke down in tears, leaving viewers scratching their heads.
“You know I’m here for you, right?” Glaze told Bonds through the bathroom door as she wept in episode 4.
“I know,” she told her fiancé.
“What can I do to get us back to the moment we were having before? Before home came back into play, ” Glaze asked.
“Home will always be into play for me,” she said through sobs. “I think this place right now is just temporary. I gotta go back to that s–t, man.”
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“We talked about this. I got you…You’re not going back alone,” the marketing manager said before entering the bathroom to give her a hug.
Many viewers were left questioning the family troubles Bonds was talking about and since offering clarity she has been flooded with support from her Instagram followers.
“It’s courageous of you to share what you’re going through because you really don’t owe anyone an explanation. We all have our moments and should be able to express our emotions. You deserve time away and to enjoy yourself as well. ❤️,” one person commented on her post.
“You don’t owe anyone an explanation ❤️ when you were crying I told my husband ‘that’s a real pain cry, I don’t know what’s going on but it’s real’… sending all love and light to you and your fam!” a second person wrote.
“Wow this is such a heavy load to carry. I can see how you let it all out when you finally felt safe to be supported by Marshall,” added another. “That’s how these things work when you’ve been strong for so long and you finally are in a safe place. I thought the way he supported you said a lot about his character. You are amazing ❤️ I’m glad you shared this so vulnerably.”
Bonds and Glaze, 27, are fan favorites among the five couples on this season of the dating show.
Another beloved pair many are predicting to say “I do” is Tiffany Pennywell, 37, and Brett Brown. 36.
Meanwhile, the show’s villain Irina Solomonova, 26, and her fiancé Zack Goytowski, 31, called their tumultuous relationship off before the vacation even ended. But Goytowski might get a second chance at marriage as his reunion with his other love connection from the pods, 33-year-old Bliss Poureetezad, ended on a cliffhanger.
And Kwame Appiah, 33, and Chelsea Griffin, 31, have hit a rocky patch as he continues to navigate his lingering feelings for 27-year-old Micah Lussier, who is engaged to Paul Peden, 29.
The next three episodes of “Love Is Blind” Season 4 premiere on March 31.