Putting in the work. Olivia Culpo said she’s still coping with some of the darker moments in her past, but she’s doing what she can to put it all behind her.
“I don’t know if you’re ever necessarily healed from traumatic past experiences,” the former Miss Universe, 30, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, November 1, while promoting her new show, The Culpo Sisters. “Not to sound dramatic, but truly I think there are definitely still triggers that one might have if they’ve gone through something like that.”
The Rhode Island native will open up about some of her past relationships in her TLC series, which follows her and her sisters, Aurora Culpo and Sophia Culpo. “I was with somebody that did really horrible, horrible things,” Olivia said during a trailer released last month. “I was made to feel less than human in every sense of the word. I’ve never talked about it before.”
While it was difficult to relive these experiences for the cameras, the I Feel Pretty actress said she thinks talking about it “will help other people.” In the meantime, she’s doing “much better” than she was when she filmed the series.
“It just truly takes committing to self-work, and that can look like a lot of different things for a lot of different people,” she explained. “For me, I journal a lot — that really helped. And I think just working through trauma, which I know sounds so dramatic, but reading.”
Olivia singled out Marianne Williamson‘s A Return to Love as a favorite, noting that she and her sisters send it to each other whenever one of them is going through a breakup. “It’s a good one,” she added.
The new show isn’t all about the past, however, as it will also highlight Olivia’s relationship with Christian McCaffrey, whom she’s been dating since 2019. The NFL athlete, 26, is currently playing for the San Francisco 49ers, which means he’s much closer to Olivia’s home base of Los Angeles.
“I’m so happy that Christian is in San Francisco,” the influencer said of her beau, who played for the Carolina Panthers until last month. “It’s going to make everything so much easier. I feel like when you care about somebody, you have to understand the things that they’re gonna have to do to reach their dreams and potential. And part of that means being apart.”
Olivia previously dated Nick Jonas from 2013 to 2015 and Danny Amendola from 2016 to 2019. She was also briefly linked to Tim Tebow, but Aurora, 33, told Us that her little sister “never dated” the former NFL player, 35.
Even though there’s still some distance between her and McCaffrey, Olivia noted that the couple are “both really understanding” about schedule changes and work commitments. “That definitely helps,” she explained. “I think when you’re on the same page with that, you really can make it work.”
The Culpo Sisters premieres on TLC Monday, November 7, at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
