Below Deck costars Ben Willoughby and Sunny Marquis are officially over.
“I need to kindly ask that people respect my space at this time and stop the negative commenting and messages,” Willoughby wrote via Instagram Story on Saturday, December 21. “It’s been a very difficult couple of weeks and some things are private between two people.”
Willoughby noted that he was focused “on moving forward,” adding, “I understand that a relationship was publicly and followed by many. Thank you for understanding.”
Willoughby sparked breakup speculation earlier this month when he removed photos of Marquis from his social media. The former coworkers often documented their romance online after reuniting when filming on season 11 wrapped earlier this year.
“Yes you guessed it 😜 we are still together! Finally we can let go of the secrecy that has been held for the past 15 months,” Willoughby captioned an Instagram post in May of him and Marquis. “We want to thank you all for the support throughout season 11 @belowdeckbravo it’s been a rollercoaster to relive the season and the beginning of a relationship.”
Willoughby explained how his relationship with Marquis progressed outside of the show, noting, “We ended up traveling the globe together last year and Sunny made her way to Australia for Christmas. Anyways, hoping you all enjoyed the season. Sunny and Ben xx.”
He continued in a separate post: “We did a lot of traveling last year! From Mexico, Italy, Greece, Morocco, canary islands, Australia, we had a great time navigating life together. This one is a keeper, she’s a special person 💛🫶🏼.”
Below Deck viewers witnessed Willoughby and Marquis’ ups and downs during season 11. While working on deck, Willoughby and Marquis formed a casual relationship, which got more complicated when he was promoted. They continued to hook up when he became her boss — and before he attempted to rekindle his romance with former costar Camille Lamb.
“Being back on board St. David, it is like taking a stroll down memory lane. With Camille, it was this instant spark. We were very much like kids in love. I’ve just been really thinking about her recently,” Willoughby told cameras during an April episode of the show. “Maybe there’s a part of me believing there could be something because we were great together. See what girls have done to me?”
Lamb ultimately shut Willoughby down and he remained unsure about a future with Marquis.
“It’s a bit of a roller coaster between Sunny and I. Sunny said she didn’t want a relationship. She was very much just there just to enjoy the experience and what was happening,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in March about their current status. “And then as things turned out, we both sort of got a bit more involved and it was quite hard for me to just tell her that I need to focus on my job because I’m stepping up into this leadership role.”
Willoughby saw his issues with Marquis as a lesson, adding, “I think she did take a lot of things personally when it should have just been for work and I very much want to see her after the show. So that’s where my head is at just at the moment. We just want to get work done first and then we can see what can blossom after that.”
