The drama within the Netflix reality show multi-verse is getting even messier. ICYMI, Too Hot To Handle alums Kayla Richart and Seb Melrose broke up, according to a TikTok posted by Richart on Sept. 12. The internet was quick to suspect that Micah Lussier from Love Is Blind star Micah Lussier had something to do with the split, since she and Melrose were pictured together at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) just days before Richart’s TikTok. So, what happened between Micah Lussier and Seb Melrose? Well, she set the record straight in a Sept. 15 TikTok.
To catch you up to speed, Richart claimed that her boundaries were “crossed” during Fashion Week by her now ex-boyfriend, Seb Melrose. “I know you guys really want me to spill the tea and drop the receipts and, trust me, a large part of me wants to do that,” Richart said. “But I’m not going to be sharing details because, mainly, we watched everything unfold together.”
What Richart may have been referring to are the photos Lussier posted on social media, which featured Melrose among other influencers and Netflix reality show stars. And while Richart didn’t name Lussier, fans were convinced that she had something to do with the breakup — well, until now, that is.
What happened with Seb and Micah at New York Fashion Week?
“The last thing I wanted to do is publicly say anything about this situation,” Lussier said in her TikTok. “But as someone who [has] been in the public eye and comes from the reality universe, I know how serious things can be when they’re brought to the internet.”
Lussier went on to speak about Melrose and Richart’s relationship and says that she was also a fan of them on Too Hot To Handle, so she’s sad to see how their breakup played out. However, she denies having anything to do with their breakup and says that the two meeting up at NYFW was for work reasons, as Melrose’s team apparently reached out to work with Lussier. “One of my very, very first questions was ‘Is Kayla OK with it?'” Lussier said about potentially working with Melrose. Lussier claimed that she was told by Melrose’s team that Richart was “more than supportive” of the collaboration. Her Campus reached out to Richart’s and Melrose’s teams for comment about this claim, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Lussier — who also revealed in her TikTok that she is currently seeing someone else — admitted that she could’ve handed the situation better in regard to Richart. “I think where I can take accountability here is that I should’ve fact-checked and reached out to Kayla — I just didn’t think it was necessary,” Lussier said. “I thought that everything was good on both sides, from the information that I was given.”
When Lussier got to Fashion Week, she said that they two attended a few shoots and shows together. Then, when she was at lunch with Melrose, she said she received a DM from Richart and claimed that she was “obviously upset” and “uncomfortable” with what the two had been posting together.
“To be honest, I was pretty caught off-guard that this was the message that I was receiving from her,” Lussier said. “I, at this point, was just trying to fulfill my professional obligations, I was trying to help a new friend, and I was working with my agency on what I thought my agency wanted me to do.”
From that point on, Lussier stated that she never posted any other content with Melrose that wasn’t already taken or obligated to post. But as more comments flooded in, Lussier said that she could understand why Richart was uncomfortable, and why the internet started to come at her for her content with Melrose.
“I do want all of you to realize that, yeah, we are characters on your screen, but we all are real people,” Lussier said. “And the things that you say are hurtful not only, you know, to us, but other people even reading it. And I just hope that you guys are able to give grace to the situation, even if you don’t understand it.”