Ashley Jacobsknows that tough times often lead to the best things.
On Monday, the 33-year-old registered nurse posted a reflective Instagram message, written asreports spread about her alleged breakupwithSouthern CharmstarThomas Ravenel.
“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations💙” Jacobs said in the caption to a photo of a tree overlooking a lake. “#TrustGod.”
Days earlier, she shared another long message in which she wrote, “I only get one shot at living, so I’m living for myself without the influences of other people getting in the way of who I am.”
“I have learned to embrace those moments of doubt and fear,” she said. “Those are the moments I realized how capable I am and how much stronger I am as a person for taking the risks I needed to take.”
Jacobs and Ravenel, 55, have been dating for over a year since meeting in early May 2017. She even moved to Charleston, South Carolina, from her hometown of Montecito, California, to be with him.
Their relationship was a hot topic on season 5 of Bravo’sSouthern Charmas Jacobs feuded withKathryn Dennis, Ravenel’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children, daughterKensie, 4, and sonSaint, 2½.
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“She’s told me that she broke up with him and that she blocked his number,” Casey recalled of a phone conversation she had with Jacobs on her show,Reality Life with Kate Casey.“She’s told me that they’ve broken up, and that she has no intention of getting back together with him and I hope that’s true.”
“[Ashley’s] in this weird position because she changed her licensing or she got licensing to be a nurse in South Carolina and really had come to the conclusion that she was going to set up a new life, away from Santa Barbara, in another state across the country,” said Casey. “She of course did this hoping that she would ultimately be in a loving relationship with someone who has hadtwo children with a woman he never ended up marrying, hasserved time in prison, and has all theseallegations against him. She wasn’t really able to see how that made absolutely no sense. So my strategy was to say things like… ‘Why would you want to be with somebody who has all this chaos in their life?’ ”
Neither Bravo nor Jacobs returned PEOPLE’s previous requests for comment.
In July, Jacobs told PEOPLE that while they were keeping their relationship off of social media, she and Ravenel were“doing great.”
“He’s been there for me through times after episodes, the hate I’ve received,” she said. “I’ve cried. I’ve been very sad. My world has really been shaken up a bit. And there are times where he’s just like, ‘I’m coming over because I think you need me right now.’ Or just, ‘I’m going to bring you lunch, I’m going to bring you dinner, I’m worried that the stress has gotten to you or you’re not eating.’ He’s just been a shoulder to cry on. And he’s really stepped up.”
“He is the only person who can really relate with me and has gone through the same experience with me,” she continued. “I can’t really relate to anyone else, not even my family or friends. I get off of work and he’s always my first call. He’s my family. He’s all I have here. It’s made us stronger that way.”
source: people.com
