“My nervous system finally feels normal again” – Vanderpump Rules alum Ally Lewber finds happiness in new long-distance romance months after ending ‘toxic’ relationship with James Kennedy following his secret relapse and arrest - suong

Ally Lewber is moving on!

A source close to the Vanderpump Rules alum, 29, confiirms to PEOPLE that she has been dating a new man for several months after being introduced through mutual friends.

The couple is getting more serious, despite him being based in New York and her in L.A., and they have been traveling to see each other.

"She's happy and enjoying where life is taking her," the insider says.

This is Lewber’s first relationship since she split from ex James Kennedy at the beginning of the year.

In December 2024, the DJ was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence after police responded to a call of a man and woman arguing at the Burbank home they shared.

Prosecutors ultimately declined to press charges against Kennedy, and Lewber told PEOPLE during an exclusive interview in April that the altercation was only verbal.

“I never was physically hurt and I never felt unsafe,” she noted of their relationship. “I think it was more just walking on eggshells and feeling anxious about, when is his next blow-up going to be? And I didn't even realize this really until I was out of the house for a while, but just how my nervous system just feels normal again. It was always kind of anxious of making sure that he doesn't get upset. Monitoring someone's behavior is not healthy.”

Lewber attributed Kennedy's behavior to an alcohol relapse.

The Startruck podcast host revealed that she found out that Kennedy — who claimed to be sober from his alcohol addiction for a year at the time — had been “drinking again behind my back.”

“I was like, ‘Breathalyze him,’” she recalled of her request to the police. “Because at this point, he's still telling me, ‘I'm not drunk.’ So when they actually showed up, I was like, ‘Oh, perfect, will you please breathalyze him?’ So that was my first thought, and they were like, ‘Well, we can't do that. We're not allowed to do that.’ But then they were like, ‘He's drunk.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, thanks.’”

“I was still just trying to regulate his emotions and not upset him and upset myself,” she explained of the aftermath of the reality star’s arrest. “Because I was heartbroken and sad, and this was around Christmas, and everything was just great. Everything was going so well. I told that to my therapist, too. I was like, ‘I felt like I was living in a fairy tale. Everything was great.’ And she was like, ‘No it wasn't, because he was lying to you. So it wasn't real.’”

While she admitted it was “uncomfortable” to have such a personal part of her life publicized, Lewber shared that she “probably” would not have broken up with Kennedy if she had been in a different situation.

“I'm weirdly grateful because it made me face the facts,” she said before adding: “It was just a lot of wake-up calls that needed to happen, but it wasn't easy in the moment.”