Kristin Cavallari Shares Challenges from Mark Estes Romance as She Confirms Relationship with Retired Athlete

Kristin Cavallari is dishing on a new romance!

On the latest episode of Bunnie Xo’s podcast Dumb Blonde, the Hills alum, 37, shared that she has moved on after her breakup with Mark Estes in September. When asked about how her dating life has been going, Cavallari confessed she has a new beau — but she isn’t ready to take things public yet.

“I’m kind of dating someone else now,” she said. “I’m not gonna say who it is, and it’s really new.”

Cavallari then revealed: “He is a retired athlete, which I will tell you.”

When Bunnie quipped, “You love the athletes,” the reality star replied: “They love me, I think!”

“I’m a f—ing WAG through and through. He’s such a good guy, and it’s new, but he checks all the boxes where I’m like, ‘F—, this is what I’ve been needing,’” she continued. “He retired a couple of years ago, and he has so much depth. And I just love talking to him. He’s 40.”

Cavallari also said the mystery man would be coming to stay with her for a few days this week, which she admitted she was looking forward to.

“We connect on so many different levels, which is awesome,” she gushed.

Reflecting on her relationship with Estes, who is just 25 years old, Cavallari said their 13-year age gap wasn’t the only challenge the two faced, but it caused other issues in their dynamic.

“I think when you are young and you don’t have life experience, coupled with maybe not a lot going on in your life, there’s not a lot to talk about,” she explained. “There’s not a lot to bring to the table.  And so, yes, I came out of it and was craving real depth and emotional intimacy.”

Still, Cavallari said she and the social media star “did have a real connection” and insisted there was no bad blood between them.

“He’s a really good guy,” she shared. “It was a beautiful relationship. I have nothing bad to say. It was fun until it wasn’t.”

She added that “people forget that the last 5 years have been my dating era,” referring to the period after her 2020 divorce from Jay Cutler after seven years of marriage.

“I always had boyfriends — I met Jay when I was 23,” Cavallari said. “I never was able to date and figure out exactly what I want and figure out myself through dating. And so that’s what I’ve been doing the last 5 years, and that was really fun for me.”

“It was a distraction,” she continued. “It was really easy. It just sort of naturally fit into my life. I said this on my podcast, but, you know, it’s maybe selfish looking back, but I didn’t really have to bend for [Estes] in a lot of ways. He just kind of fit into my life.”

In November, Estes and the mom of three ran into each other at Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse in Nashville during a night out. Photos obtained by TMZ showed them together for the first time since their split, joined by one of Estes’ fellow Montana Boyz members, Kaleb Winterburn.

“Everyone’s on good terms,” an exclusive source told PEOPLE at the time.

Cavallari echoed that sentiment on an Oct. 1 episode of her Let’s Be Honest podcast: “He’s been the best boyfriend I’ve ever had. I just know long-term he needs to experience life, he’s young… I started to feel the age a little bit with life experience. I look back when I was 24 and how much life has happened between then, those are crucial years, those are formative years, they’re when you find yourself and he needs to be able to do that.”