Tyson Beckford is proud of how far he’s come after a difficult — and public — breakup.
After nearly seven years of dating Shanina Shaik, Beckford, 54, found himself single in 2015 following a shocking split. According to the Kings Court star, he was close to proposing to the Victoria’s Secret model before things came to a sudden end.
“One month before we broke up, I met the vice president of Cartier and I told him, ‘Look, I have this amazing lady I want to get married to,’” Beckford shared in his Us Weekly cover story. “I had these great plans, and just, it was a crushing blow.”
While Beckford didn’t mention Shaik, 34, by name, he believes “everybody remembers a Victoria’s Secret presence” in his life and the headlines that followed after their split.
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As hard as it was to stay silent as the breakup played out in the public eye, Beckford is proud of where he ended up.
“No one really wanted to hear my side. It was all about, ‘Oh, he’s so bad. He’s this and that.’ And I just let it go for a while and then I let time take over,” he told Us. “All I did was I went into work mode and just went to work, went home, gym and that’s it. I just kept to myself, and nobody wanted to hear my side of the story.”
While Beckford said he wanted to speak out and defend himself, he chose to be patient and remind himself that time heals all wounds.
“I was patient, but I cannot lie and say I wasn’t madly in love,” he said. “I was madly in love, but I really seriously never got my heart broken like that before.”
Despite being a successful model with invites to the hottest parties, Beckford recalled a time of not wanting to go anywhere or hang out with anyone.
Ultimately, Beckford said it took him almost four years to “really start to get back in the dating pool.”
He also remembered a valuable piece of advice from fellow supermodel and friend Naomi Campbell.
“She told me, ‘You are an icon, and you just need to get back out there.’ For me, it was just time,” Beckford said. “I think time is the best healer of all wounds. I don’t have anything against her or anything. I still love her from a distance. I’ve never been in the same room [since the split].”
In this chapter of his life, Beckford is hoping — and ready — to find a special someone on Bravo’s new reality show Kings Court.
Hosted by Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete, the series features Beckford, NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer and WWE legend Thaddeus “Titus O’Neil” Bullard searching for their queen among 21 single ladies.
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“The idea of this one made sense because you weren’t by yourself,” Beckford explained to Us. “You had other guys to kind of bounce off of. I would say they were my wingmen and I was their wingman. It was really trying to find what worked for me.”
Kings Court airs on Bravo Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. Stream old episodes anytime on Peacock.
To hear more from Beckford, pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.
