Love Island’s Pepe Finally Speaks Out On Those Cheating Rumors
He called it a “false narrative.”
Love Island USA Season 7 might be over, but the drama has not slowed down. Pepe Garcia and Iris Kendall’s friends-to-lovers story came to an abrupt end recently, following cheating rumors about Garcia. Now, he is addressing the speculation — and according to him, everything is not what it seems.
In August, a woman shared a Snapchat, alleging that she hooked up with Garcia in a hotel lobby. It quickly went viral, and soon after, Kendall and Garcia stopped following each other on social media. Kendall also deleted her photos with Garcia, seemingly confirming a messy split.
Looking back on the situation now, Garcia said he “did not” cheat and called it all a “false narrative.” During a Sept. 25 interview on the Sorry We’re Cyrus podcast, he told host Tish Cyrus about his life post-villa. “You get off, a lot of eyes on you, and then somebody says something that isn't true,” he said. “And you're kind of just there either hoping you have a support system to say, ‘Hey this isn't true. I've got your back.’”
Garcia also alleged that Kendall had her own “cheating scandal” and that he stood by her in the aftermath. “In my situation, it's very weird because we got off the island, and she had a cheating scandal ... TMZ caught her,” he said. In July, the outlet captured Kendall reconnecting with TJ Palma, with whom she was previously coupled up. They hugged in the video, leading some fans to think they could be rekindling things. Afterwards, however, Kendall clarified it was a “closure talk” and not romantic.
“I just said, you know, 'It's Day 1. I don't think anybody deserves hate.' And obviously, her messages were blowing up with hate. Mine were blowing up with, 'Get out of there. Leave her.' I don't think anybody deserves that,” he added. “And nobody knows the truth. Nobody knows what happened. Nobody knows other than her and the people involved... So I had her back on that one.”
Garcia claimed that Kendall did not do the same for him: “And then to have it, five weeks later, flip and happen to me ... [and to] not have that same support ... her deciding, ‘Let's just not say anything about it.’”
According to Garcia, he felt stuck and did not want to defend himself and sound “trashy or defensive.” He explained his mindset at the time, “I’ll just stay quiet. Let people think what they want to think. I know the truth. I know what actually happened.”
However, now that Kendall and Palma have reconnected and hard-launched their relationship, Garcia has more questions about the whole thing. “It’s just a weird situation because then [Kendall] goes and is now back with who she had a cheating scandal with,” he claimed.
“How do you just jump from one person to the next?” Garcia said before alleging, “And the next person she jumped with is someone that apparently she did something with. This isn't clocking to people.”
