Devyn Aiken‘s nose job — a $11,000 surgery she’d waited her whole life to undergo — dramatically changed her appearance. Months later, she made another big decision that impacted her life: finalizing her divorce and “starting over” at age 30.
Since February, when Aiken spoke to PEOPLE about her rhinoplasty nine weeks post-op, she’s started sharing more personal content with her 66,200 TikTok followers. In one of her videos, she can be seen walking around a brand new apartment, where the Philadelphia-based paralegal now resides by herself.
“A new chapter of happiness and putting myself first,” she captioned the clip posted in late February. In a following TikTok, Aiken recorded herself “packing up my home I’ve lived in for 3 years & starting over at 30,” she wrote in overlaying text.
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Her caption continued, “I know starting over can be scary, but what’s even scarier is not putting yourself first and being unhappy. I’m super intentional about my mental health, peace, and happiness now. I feel hopeful & optimistic about my future.”
Speaking to PEOPLE now, Aiken admits she and her ex “both were equally unhappy” in their relationship before separating a few years ago and living separately. However, they didn’t officially end the marriage until after she went under the knife.
“We got married very prematurely and young, while not fully understanding the concept or commitment … We knew we were not a match,” says Aiken. “When I had a lot of downtime recovering from surgery, I knew it was time to close the chapter completely and move on with my life.”
While her surgical timeline allowed her space to finalize the divorce — and her new nose certainly gave Aiken a boost in confidence — the influencer maintains that the end of her relationship happened independently.
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“I didn’t get a nose job and think, ‘Oh I’m so hot, I can leave my husband now and find someone better.’ That did not happen at all,” she notes.
In addition to tagging “#LifeAfterDivorce” in several of her videos, Aiken has recently offered glimpses into her love life as she started dating again. She’s posted “get ready with me” videos before dates and compiled clips of her alongside someone new.
While some cheer her on in the comments, Aiken tells PEOPLE that her audience’s reaction to her divorce news has been generally “negative.”
“People think I used his money, got a nose job and then left him. That was not the series of events,” the content creator shares. “We need to realize you don’t know the full story from seeing little social media clips. We have been separated privately, and I just decided to post about it so naturally people think I got it done and left him.”
The haters aren’t dragging Aiken’s spirit down too far, though. She emphasizes that she is “so excited to be dating for the first time after getting out of a long-term relationship” that dominated her 20s.
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She also confirms what her videos suggest: she has indeed met someone, and it’s been “extremely fun” getting to know the person.
“It is new, but it’s really refreshing to just date again and learn someone new, experience new things together and just be accepted with all this baggage I’m coming with!” says Aiken. “I get so excited getting ready for our dates, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where it will go.”
