Yahoo Finance Love Is Blind 's Natalie Felt 'Core Piece' of Her Story with Shayne Was 'Left Out' on After the Altar
Ser Baffo/Netflix (2)
When it comes to the downfall of Natalie Lee and Shayne Jansen's relationship, there is much more to the story.
Following the premiere of Love Is Blind: After the Altar earlier this month, Natalie exclusively tells PEOPLE that she wasn't happy with how the former couple's story was depicted in the three-part special.
During the reunion episodes, Natalie, 30, claimed that her ex-fiancé was exchanging flirty messages with his former flame Shaina Hurley. She cited this as the cause of the pair's breakup.
"I know what I saw, and I was very uncomfortable with what I saw between them," she says. "I think the toughest part was, again, knowing that Shaina was my closest friend in the pods at the time of filming, and then seeing the lies that they kept up for an entire year until season two played."
RELATED: Love Is Blind's Shayne Pens Special Message to Natalie After Wedding Finale: 'I'm Remorseful'
Shayne and Shaina, both 33, denied such speculation — and even fellow castmate Kyle Abrams, who was engaged to Shaina, suggested that Natalie is "an instigator" behind-the-scenes who needs to "let it go." But Natalie begs to differ.
"I talk about it on the show, just some behind-the-scenes things that also happened. Shayne telling me Shaina encouraged him to come after me at the reunion show. And I think that really prompted [me to say], 'Hey, I'm going to stand my ground and tell my side of this story,'" she explains. "One thing that the show did not talk about that Shayne and I have text messages and an email talking about him un-sending and deleting messages."
She continues, "I think that was a core piece that they left out of my story and the way I was telling it and how I was talking my truth at that time. Or the truth. And so yeah, that was a bit frustrating to see."
Netflix Natalie And Shayne on Love Is Blind
Natalie also wishes that After the Altar dove deeper into the story she was telling, "specifically with the Instagram dance between Shayne and Shana and that relationship," she says.
"One of the things I mentioned quite often was just how Shaina used to be my former friend. And going from seeing the Love is Blind episodes and seeing the lies that she told me along with Shayne, and then going right into filming After the Altar, everything was so fresh and emotional at the time when I decide to tell my story," she explains. "But I think, for the most part, I understand. You're taking so much footage and condensing it into three episodes and trying to tell every person's story in the most accurate way."
Natalie and Shayne experienced a bumpy road upon exiting the pods as an engaged couple. Previously, Shayne contemplated whether Natalie actually appreciated him, while Natalie had concerns about Shayne's potential lingering feelings for Shaina.
On their wedding day, Natalie chose to leave Shayne at the altar after they had a blowout argument the night before, where he called her "the worst thing" that's ever happened to him and said he "hated" her.
Natalie Lee/Instagram
Even though she didn't get the fairytale ending she envisioned, Natalie says she doesn't "have any regrets."
"It's been six months since we filmed After the Altar as well, and so there's been so much moving on and healing on my end, but I don't think that would've been possible if I hadn't done the things that I did throughout the show," she explains. "I also am trying to give myself grace for the decisions I made as well. I think it's really tough."
"I think this was my real life and my real emotions and just a real relationship that really just played out publicly but also, exploded publicly as well," she continues. "So I think it was definitely hard, but I can't live with regrets with what I did because I've learned so much and gained so much as well."
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Love Is Blind: After the Altar is now streaming on Netflix.
