The Big D's Dede Talks Life After the Show, Unresolved Issues with Thakur

The latest episode of The Big D kicked off with the conclusion of last week's elimination that sent two divorcees packing who the rest of the group thought had grown as much as they could. Now, one of them is speaking out about her time on the show and giving us an update on her life now that she’s back in the real world. 

SPOILER ALERT for The Big D Season 1, Episode 7

The episode began with Dede Lewis walking alongside Blair Delgado as the latest members of the villa to be kicked out. Fortunately, Dede revealed in an interview with USA Insider that although she wasn’t quite ready to leave, she’s happy with where she landed both individually and in her relationship with her ex, Thakur Wint. 

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“I'm honestly just living my life day by day,” she explained. “I'm not rushing into anything. I am dating somebody now and it's honestly probably the first healthy relationship I've really ever really been in. I attribute that to the show, the me that came out of that show. Everything I learned, I was able to apply to my life.” 

Although she’s happy with her life now and this new mystery man, Dede noted that she took a big step back from dating after leaving the show. She says the experience and Dr. Jada Jackson helped her realize that she needed to resolve her feelings with Thakur as well as figure out who she was outside of a relationship before diving back in one. For her, the first step on that journey was moving with her child from New Jersey to Florida.

“I'm enjoying my life. I've found confidence and a new love for myself. I love me. I love being me. I love just taking it day by day and just being happy. Like, happiness is just my goal,” she said. 

While she may be happy now that she’s through the experience and firmly starting a new life, she was happy to go back and explain where she was emotionally on the show, particularly when it came to dating in front of her ex while they still clearly had unresolved issues. 

“Obviously, Thakur and I were in a really difficult place. We didn't communicate much. Like, we're trying to avoid mentioning the kids, but obviously, we have kids together,” she explained. “We did not have communication. so I think the hardest part really was just opening up the lines of communication again.” 

She added: “He was obviously struggling to let go. And so for him to see me trying to pursue other people and to date and get to know other people and just have conversations with other men was really hard for him. But that's where me needing to be confident in myself and who I am and what I want and me being ready to move forward, that kicked in. So it was really hard to stand firm in who I am and what I wanted to do with my life as an individual, knowing and seeing how hard it was for him.”

While viewers may have seen Dede’s time on the show come to an end, Thakur’s conclusion is still very much in question as he pursues a new relationship in the house. Will the absence of Dede solve all his problems? 

Reporting by Shameika Rhymes.

Tune into new episodes of The Big D airs on Wednesdays on USA Network at 10/9c and catch up on past episodes on Peacock.