Life After ‘Love Island USA’: Chelley Bissainthe On What’s Next

Life looked very different for Chelley Bissainthe this time last year.

Everything she was manifesting for her future existed solely on her vision board: a thriving modeling career, a growing social media presence, major brand deals and a cross-country move from Orlando to Los Angeles to better support those goals. But after joining the Season 7 cast of “Love Island USA” last summer — the biggest installment of the American smash series yet — those ambitions quickly began to materialize before her eyes.

Not long after her time on the show, big-name brands came knocking at Bissainthe’s door (CoverGirl, True Religion and Shea Moisture, to name a few). By then, the fan favorite had grown her social following from a modest 10,000 before “Love Island USA” to more than 2 million once she returned to the real world.

With that surge in visibility came a wave of opportunities for the former day trader’s star to rise far beyond the villa walls, including appearances on red carpets and at Fashion Week, taking on correspondent duties, and developing her own passion projects now that she’s officially relocated to LA — all things that felt just out of reach before the dating series came along.

“A lot of this, all of this actually, was on my vision board last year in a way where I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to achieve this, but I know if I keep envisioning, if I keep trusting the process, it’s going to happen,” the 28-year-old told celebrity.land during a recent Zoom interview.

For Bissainthe, trusting the process meant taking a leap and appearing on Peacock’s hit dating show last year, after initially being scouted for Season 6 in 2024. But becoming a reality TV star wasn’t exactly a part of her master plan.

“This is one of those things that just came to me. I’m not even putting myself out there,” she explained of the unexpected opportunity.

Still, when “Love Island USA” casting reached out to Bissainthe once more about joining the show, she considered it a chance to potentially find love and simultaneously elevate her modeling career. But what she got in return was so much more.

Becoming something of an overnight celebrity comes with the territory for virtually any “Love Island” standout. When you captivate millions of viewers for half a summer like Bissainthe, fame makes it kind of hard to go back to living a “normal” life, where fans aren’t clocking your every move online or keeping tabs on you IRL.

That’s just one of many adjustments Bissainthe has had to make lately, after enduring a drama-filled season rife with widely publicized cast controversies and toxic fan behavior online. Still, when I ask what she’s most proud of from her experience on the show, Bissainthe doesn’t hesitate to say “speaking my truth.”

“I allowed myself to be the most vulnerable I’ve ever been,” she shared. “Especially in relationships, sometimes I would have a guard up. But I remember telling myself, girl, you want to go find love. So if that’s the case, you want to do things differently. You have to be raw, you have to show your emotions, you have to communicate when somebody got you messed up.”

“So in that situation, I was like, OK, let’s be vulnerable,” she added. “No matter how hard the conversations could be, just let people know how you feel, so no one’s in a gray area.”

Bissainthe is glammed up to perfection when we hop on Zoom in late January, sporting a fresh bob cut that makes her look every bit refreshed after dealing with a turbulent few weeks of personal drama. A month before, the reality star shockingly revealed her split from “Love Island USA” co-star Ace Greene. The OG islanders had been coupled up on and off throughout their season and continued dating after leaving the villa in July, making their relationship official two months later.

Bissainthe kept breakup details to a minimum following her announcement, though she shared that the ex-couple ultimately agreed it was best to part ways.

“It really was a tough decision for the both of us and very hard to decide,” she explained on SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio. “[There was] a mutual level of respect and understanding that we wanted this to work, but sometimes things don’t work. Couples go through things that are very challenging, and sometimes the best thing to do is just make a decision that needs to be made.”

Bissainthe declines to comment on Greene and her breakup for our interview. However, she expressed weeks earlier in an X post that she regrets “speaking publicly about something so personal before I really gave myself the time and care it deserved.”

“I love & care so much about Ace, & I’m choosing to handle our relationship with more privacy & intention moving forward,” she continued in a separate post, adding in another: “Moments like these are meant to be worked through in real life.. not online. And right now my priority is peace, boundaries, and protecting what matters to me.”

At peace is exactly how Bissainthe seems as she opens up about the new chapter she’s stepping into this year. Ready to move past her reality TV spotlight, she can’t help but perk up when I ask about what’s ahead — modeling, acting, podcasting, brand collabs and much more, she says. The only question now is which venture she’ll tackle first.

“I’m a big advocate for not putting yourself in a box and really owning all that you are,” Bissainthe said. “I’m just a multifaceted woman who wants to pursue any and everything, and that’s not a bad thing.”

“I have a lot of different passions, and I’m trying to navigate what to focus on first, how to introduce the other, etc., etc.,” she added. “Especially now, in this time of not even reintroducing myself, but letting people get to know me beyond the show.”

On “Love Island USA,” viewers got to see the full spectrum of Bissainthe’s villa journey, from navigating different connections and castmate drama to facing “mean girl” allegations and even racism from the show’s fan base as one of the few dark-skinned Black women on her season. The latter experience wasn’t entirely new to the Florida native, who recalls encountering similar treatment as a child, also as one of the few dark-skinned Black girls in her elementary school.

“That was something that I became aware of very young that pushed me to build confidence from within, instead of waiting for the world to affirm me. Because in that world, I was never going to receive it if that’s what I was waiting for,” Bissainthe confided, adding that being the oldest sister of five siblings also “made me grow up really early.”

“It built a type of strength in me,” she continued, “the type of resilience and confidence that I’m so grateful for today.”

Bissainthe carried that same resilience with her into the uncertain terrain of early adulthood, particularly during her college years at New York’s St. John’s University. At one point during her freshman year, she considered becoming a forensic psychologist, only to realize the reality of that career path didn’t exactly match her expectations.

“It’s such a difference when you see something on TV and how it’s so animated, but then when you get to the real world, it’s like, this is not that fun,” Bissainthe admitted.

Afterward, she explored majoring in public relations, but financial issues and other challenges ultimately pushed her away from the college experience entirely after about two and a half years. It was then that Bissainthe began to question what she really wanted to do with her life in the long run.

“All these different things were coming up, and I had to sit with myself and say, ‘Let’s really be realistic. What is it that you want?’” she remembered. “Because I realized school wasn’t a passion of mine.”

The odd jobs Bissainthe took on to keep up with New York City’s high cost of living weren’t much more fulfilling either.

“I didn’t find any happiness in any of them,” she added. “The happiness that I found was being able to learn certain skills.”

One of those was how to run a business, which is where Bissainthe caught the entrepreneurial bug. Add in her longtime modeling dreams, and the multi-hyphenate began to see ambitions that felt more aligned with her future, one that she imagined “made me feel free, creative and on my own terms.” That’s when Bissainthe made a promise to herself.

“I told myself, I’m not working any other jobs anymore that aren’t tailored to modeling or building my brand,” she recalled to celebrity.land. “I’m not doing any bartending, hosting, nothing. I just need to focus on this.”

Not long after committing to modeling full time, a TikTok video of Bissainthe caught the attention of “Love Island USA” producers. Before she knew it, and within weeks of the show’s return, she was on a flight to Fiji, where she’d soon join the original Season 7 cast.

Initially, Bissainthe didn’t tell anyone except a circle of close friends on Instagram that she was going on “Love Island USA.” “Not even my family, until the day before my flight,” she told celebrity.land.

Bissainthe said she entered the show with “zero expectations” and few concerns, aside from anticipating that it would be an “uncomfortable” experience to essentially live under constant camera surveillance 24/7. On top of that, searching for love on national television — under the watchful eyes of millions of critical viewers, mind you — comes with its own unique pressures.

There’s also the fact that, on many reality shows, especially dating series like “Love Island,” Black women are often subjected to mistreatment and microaggressions, which Bissainthe experienced firsthand during her season and even after the cameras stopped rolling.

Going into the show, “part of me was a little bit worried” about that, Bissainthe said.

Still, worries about criticism didn’t hold the Haitian American islander back from showing up as her true, confident self from the moment she stepped into the villa. Of course, being isolated in a bubble in the middle of the Pacific, with no access to social media or the internet, Bissainthe had no way of knowing how deeply her presence would resonate with viewers. She didn’t even realize her season had become “such a big conversation all throughout the summer” until stepping back into reality.

“I was in the villa asking the girls, like, ‘Do y’all think people are watching this?’” Bissainthe said, recalling how she and her castmates would often sit around the villa and “talk about the most random things.”

“I’m like, I don’t know what’s going on out there. I don’t know what’s being seen,” she added. “But if this is what they see, I know they can’t stand us.”

Little did Bissainthe know, fans couldn’t get enough of her season.

From the headline-grabbing villa drama to the Casa Amor shake-ups to the challenges that turned up the heat in more ways than one — including the infamous heart rate challenge — social media was buzzing with “Love Island USA” discourse all summer long, and even long after.

By the end of the season, NBC reported, the Peacock series had amassed over 18.4 billion minutes streamed, becoming its most-watched original season of all time. The impact came as a complete shock to Bissainthe: “To come out and see that this is what [our season] created. I was like, wow, this is insane.”

What surprised Bissainthe even more was the lasting impression she had on some viewers — from young girls to women her own age — who reached out to express how inspired they were by her for being “so genuine” and “so authentically yourself” on the show.

“Some people are even telling me, ‘You helped me find myself,’ and ‘You helped me have some confidence in myself,’” Bissainthe recalled.

It’s not often that Black women get to present themselves in such a way on reality TV, let alone competitive dating shows, without being forced to shrink themselves. Even in instances when that could’ve happened to Bissainthe, she always stood firm in who she was, which is why, even unbeknownst to her, she stood out to so many.

“If I’m being completely honest, going into this, I never stopped to look at myself and realize, hey, you’re putting yourself in the spotlight. You’re going to be on national TV,” Bissainthe said. “That didn’t stick with me. The only thing that sat with me was, I just want to show up as I am.”

Then people started telling her, “You inspire me.”

“I was like, wow, this is actually very important,” she said. “That’s what makes my vision even 10 times more important.”

“The fact that I was this inspiration to people now makes me want to be more intentional, and really make it a point to show people you can be whoever you want to be.”

Bissainthe is taking that advice to heart as she navigates a new beginning. From appearing on True Religion posters in stores across the U.S. to ramping up more brand partnerships, the “Love Island USA” breakout star isn’t putting a ceiling on her plans for the future.

Bissainthe is now fully leveraging her elevated profile to launch a myriad of “super fun” projects, one of which is a forthcoming series she’ll host on UPROXX TV called “Love, Songs,” which will explore “how people experience love, memory and identity through music.”

“Music has always been one of the most powerful ways people connect to their emotions and memories,” Bissainthe, who also executive-produces the new series, noted in a press statement. “This show is about tapping into that in a way that feels real, a little unexpected and actually fun to watch. You get to see how people think, what they connect to and how their story reveals itself through music.”

Other endeavors Bissainthe has underway include launching an interactive podcast to connect more with her fans, whom she affectionately calls her “Cherries” — a nod to her cheeky cherry tattoo and the Creole phrase “Mon chéri,” honoring her Haitian roots.

“One thing I’ve been known for is my ability to give great advice, no matter what it is — career, family, friends, relationships, even life,” Bissainthe said. “I want to create a space where my fans can come to me with something they want advice on, and I then come onto my platform and talk about it with them.”

Of course, the model also hopes to tap into the fashion world at some point, once she “figures out what that exactly looks like for me.”

“I’m the type of person who likes to master a craft before I put it out there,” Bissainthe shares. “But I’m also like, it’s OK to learn in the process, so I want to be able to share those moments, my learning process, and the behind-the-scenes things.”

Could a return to reality TV be in Bissainthe’s future, too?

“That’s a big question mark,” she said. “I’m not saying no, but I’m not saying yes.”

One place you definitely won’t see Bissainthe is on the upcoming season of “Love Island: Beyond the Villa,” the spinoff series that follows former islanders, set to premiere April 15. The TV personality told celebrity.land that she declined the opportunity to reunite with her old castmates, citing a “matter of alignment” with her current life and priorities.

“I just didn’t see it, especially with me wanting to go forward with so many different things,” Bissainthe explained. “Honestly, I had my fun with Season 7. That was enough for me.”

That also means folks shouldn’t anticipate her popping up on “The Traitors” (as some have suggested to her) or any other competition shows anytime soon — though there is one for which she’d gladly make an exception.

“‘Dancing With the Stars,’ please call me,” Bissainthe offered.

With her “Love Island USA” chapter officially closed, Bissainthe is intent on moving ahead and embracing what’s next, not looking back in her rearview mirror. But that’s not to say she’s completely done with TV.

“I would host a reality TV show, most definitely,” she said. But as far as being a contestant again?

“I don’t think so,” Bissainthe laughed. “No more.”