Mikayla Nogueira has not publicly spoken in detail about why she and her ex-husband, Cody Hawken, divorced earlier this year − until now.
The beauty influencer, who has more than 17 million TikTok followers, appeared Monday, Oct. 5, as a guest on Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" podcast. She spoke openly about how her quick ascension to viral fame and her ex-husband's struggle with addiction led to the dissolution of their marriage earlier this year.
The couple got married in a highly publicized July 2023 wedding that was attended by famous friends such as Chris Olsen and Dylan Mulvaney, with Kim Kardashian's go-to glam squad, hairstylist Chris Appleton and makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic, helping her get ready. In February of this year, Nogueira announced
that she and Hawken were separating, and they finalized their divorce in July.
While she did keep her followers in the know about her divorce by posting videos on TikTok, her appearance on Shetty's podcast marks the first time she has detailed what caused the end of her marriage.
The two met when she started getting more popular online and Hawken had just moved to Massachusetts. He was in rehab for substance abuse at the time, she recalled. "He’s freshly sober, he’s confident about life, he’s feeling good, and he wants to share it with someone," the 28-year-old influencer told Shetty. "We were both really in this same exact position of going through a massive change and wanting to share it with someone.”
@jayshetty Mikayla Nogueira opens up about her marriage ❤️ 🎧Watch the full episode today on Netflix or Spotify by searching 'On Purpose Podcast‘ or listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️ #mikaylanogueira
♬ original sound - Jay Shetty
As she became more well-known online, Hawken began to "struggle" with her newfound fame. "I don’t think he or I understood the scale of what was going to be," Nogueira said. "He was very, very supportive and open to it. But I think he very quickly realized that it was a lot more challenging than he thought.”
She goes on to explain that the more popular she got, the more hate she started receiving online and as a result, Nogueira said she was "very detached" and he relapsed multiple times. According to her, Hawken revealed that he'd been drinking regularly after their wedding and hid it from her.
@jayshetty Mikayla Nogueira on her ex’s overdose and the end of their marriage 🎧Watch the full episode today on Netflix or Spotify by searching 'On Purpose Podcast‘ or listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️ #mikaylanogueira
♬ original sound - Jay Shetty
The influencer also shared what she said was "the scariest night of my life," when she found her husband unconscious late at night and called police and an ambulance to their home.
"I wanted to be there for Cody and I wanted to help him as much as I could, but I knew that he was the one that had to want to be sober and to get sober," Nogueira told Shetty. "I was giving my all to try to be the best partner for him, but my job is so demanding and so exhausting and busy. And I think he needed a partner who was there more."
Over the course of their three-year relationship, the couple tried to make things work, but in the last year of their marriage, she said Hawken was a "completely different person." The couple decided it was time to end their marriage a little over a year into their relationship, on Christmas Day 2024, but he got sober, and they worked on building a life together. However, they were unable to patch things up and had a particularly explosive fight, which led them to call it quits.
“Cody and I had a beautiful five years together, but we also had five really difficult years together," she shared. "We learned so much through this marriage. And I think Cody and I were just both excited that we get to try again, and we get to take time for ourselves to learn who we are and figure things out.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mikayla Nogueira shares devastating reason why she divorced her husband
