‘Married at First Sight’: Mindy Shiben Defends Her New Boyfriend From Body-Shaming
Mindy Shiben, a 35-year-old figure skating coach from Washington, D.C., quickly became a fan-favorite cast member on Lifetime’s Married at First Sight season 10.
Mindy was all-in from the beginning with her expert-selected husband, personal trainer Zach Justice. But Zach told Mindy he wasn’t attracted to her shortly after their wedding, and he even refused to move in with her.
While Mindy tried in vain to make their marriage work, Zach’s possible emotional affair with Mindy’s friend, Lindsay, was the last straw. The Married at First Sight star left her husband before Decision Day rolled around.
But Mindy recently revealed a new man in her life—first on her Married at First Sight season 9 castmate Elizabeth Bice’s YouTube channel, and later on Instagram. Most recently, Mindy defended her new boyfriend from critics’ rude body-shaming comments.
Mindy told Elizabeth she met her new boyfriend while her season of ‘Married at First Sight’ was airing
In mid-Sept. 2020, Mindy opened up to Elizabeth in an exclusive YouTube interview about a new man she’d been having romantic video dates with during quarantine.
Mindy explained that the mystery man had actually slid into her DMs twice while her season was airing to ask her out. At first, she was too overwhelmed by her newfound Married at First Sight fame to respond. But the second time, she wondered, “Why not?”
At that point, the couple had been dating (only virtually) for about a month—sharing sweet dinner dates on FaceTime and getting to know each other. But Mindy already seemed smitten, as the guy in question had not only pursued her, but had also promised to “pamper her and treat her right.” He’d even sent her flowers for their online dates.
“He’s funny,” Mindy told her Married at First Sight castmate. “That’s my most important trait in a guy right now, especially with initial chemistry and banter and stuff…He cracks me up, he’s super sweet, and I like him.”
The ‘Married at First Sight’ star recently went on a romantic getaway with her man
From the looks of Mindy’s Instagram stories on Sept. 23 and 24, she and her boyfriend have moved beyond FaceTime dates and onto tropical romantic getaways. Her new man appears to be Wil Slickers (@slicktalkpod), who hosts the Slick Talk Podcast, a podcast about all things hospitality. He’s also the founder of Stay Lux, a startup offering luxury vacation rentals in the Pacific Northwest.
Mindy shared a series of snapshots of herself drinking champagne in a pool, cuddling on a boat, and enjoying the picturesque beach at a resort in Cancun with Wil. In turn, he also shared photos of the pair getting snuggly, captioning one of them, “When in Mexico, you go on a catamaran.”
Joking about her boyfriend’s taste in food, Mindy tagged him in an Instagram story featuring a pile of pizza and mac and cheese. “When you take him to a gourmet buffet in Cancun and he chooses this,” she joked. The Married at First Sight star also quipped, “25-year-olds these days,” which might indicate that Mindy went for a somewhat younger man this time around.
Zach’s ex-wife defended her boyfriend from body-shamers and negative comments
In addition to sharing sweet photos of her vacation with Wil, Mindy also defended him from critics’ negative comments.
According to Soap Dirt, Mindy’s boyfriend posted a photo of himself posing shirtless with a glass of champagne on a beach chair. “As long as bae thinks I’m sexy,” he wrote in the Instagram story, adding the hashtag “#dadbod.”
“I guess I’m into dad bods then,” his girlfriend wrote on the photo.
Sharing a rude DM she’d received from one of her Instagram followers—who responded “yikes” to the photo of her boyfriend enjoying himself on vacation—Mindy wasn’t afraid to clap back.
“I know right? Being so happy and loved is disgusting right?!” the Married at First Sight star wrote sarcastically to the body-shaming critic. “But in all seriousness, please f*ck off,” she concluded (with a heart emoji over the four-letter word for the sake of her followers).
Mindy reposted her defense of Wil on her Instagram stories, and her captions suggested that she wasn’t about to let anyone attack her boyfriend without a fight.
“I’m so happy to get to share these exciting times with all of the lovely people that support me!” she wrote of her new relationship. “And for the few a**hats that don’t, this message is for you too!”
After everything she went through with Zach, it’s wonderful to see Mindy so happy and in love with a boyfriend who seems to appreciate her in every way.
