John Janssen Says His Relationship with Ex Shannon Beador Felt Like He Was Failing 'Every Day': 'I Tried'

John Janssen is getting candid about his relationship with Real Housewife of Orange County star Shannon Storms Beador.

During a July 30 episode of the Reality with The King podcast, the businessman, 61, gave a rare interview in which he opened up to host Carlos King about dating Storms Beador, 60.

“I wanna say that my relationship with Shannon was real,” he explained. “She has a wonderful side to her. But I think people out there just assume John was the problem in the relationship, and I would just challenge people to think about what it might be like to be with Shannon.”

He continued: “I will say that. 'What was it like?' It was, 'What it is like to fail every day, all day, every day? To fail at everything?' That's what it felt like to date her.”

Admitting that the pair did have some “good times" and noting that Storms Beador "has a wonderful side to her," Janssen said that ultimately the two were not compatible. “I tried very, very hard. I did," he said. "But we were never meant to be together."

Storms Beador and Janssen were together for 3½ years, RHOC viewers watching their romance play out for the Bravo cameras. He ultimately called off their romance twice, first in late 2022 — a breakup she claimed "blindsided her" — and then again in September 2023, not long after her arrest for an alleged DUI and hit-and-run.

Janssen has since found love with Alexis Bellino, a relationship the pair first made public with PEOPLE exclusively. Their pairing has caused some controversy in the Real Housewives universe as it came months before her return to the Bravo series after a 10-year absence.

Though Janseen has yet to appear on the series again, he's been the topic of conversation between the RHOC cast. Storms Beador's costars Gina Kirschenheiter and Emily Simpson have particularly slammed him in multiple episodes so far.

"I'm not on the show, but I think I'm talked about more than anybody else, which is pretty surreal," Janssen told King, noting that some of the criticism he's received from the cast comes from things they've heard about him from Storms Beador. "They don't know me. I've never even had a conversation with Emily Simpson, for example — and she definitely doesn't like me, but she doesn't know me. And they act as if they do."

"It's been a dilemma," Janssen added, of even the decision to speak out. "My silence is largely responsible for people hating me and thinking I'm this bad person, because all of these things that have been said about me have taken hold as truth over the last 4 or 5 years. And and it's hurt me. It's hurt me."

Elsewhere in the conversation on Reality with the King, Janssen opened up about his relationship with Bellino, whom he met through friends at Orange County hotspot The Quiet Woman.

He said he is reminded of how “perfect” Alexis is for him every day. “This is what it's supposed to be like," Janssen shared. “There's a lot of stress that's gone from my life, and, you know, it's sad.”

When Bellino and Janssen made their red carpet debut in March, they told PEOPLE they didn’t want to share their relationship at first because they knew they would face backlash over John dating another RHOC star. However, they later decided they wanted to go public and put their love on display.

"I would say it's been bad, but at some point you get numb and then you make the decision just to not look at it," Janssen said. "You have to not look at it. We're focused on each other."

"A hundred percent, I couldn't have said it better," Bellino, 47, added. "We did take it kind of slow, as far as wanting America to know exactly where we stood. And now we're at the point where it's like, we're focused on the future and we're moving forward. You either take us or leave us; you either accept that we're dating or you hate it. But if you don't want us to be together, then swipe left on the Instagram — don't follow my page. Turn the other way if you don't like it, because here we are."

And as for Storms Beador, she's in a better place without Janssen, too — though the two are still involved in a lawsuit over an unpaid loan he says she owes him.

"I do not miss the relationship at all," she told PEOPLE earlier this month. "And as I'm able to look back and see so many parts of it, I'm grateful that it did end."

In fact, she said she wishes the pair had split sooner. "I am frustrated that it lasted as long as it did. I feel as though I just wasted those years," she explains. "But we were not meant to be together.

And the reality star, who in September will film a dating spinoff for Peacock, is still hopeful her match is out there. "I haven't given up on love at all," she insisted. "I still have the dream to be in a partnership with somebody. I don't know that I've ever really had that. So we'll see."

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The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.