'Love Is Blind' star Deepti reveals the early 'red flag' about Shake that her sister-in-law helped her uncover

• Deepti Vempati revealed an early "red flag" in her relationship with Shake in an interview with Insider.
• She recalled him not being able to tell her family members what his values were.

"Love Is Blind" star Deepti Vempati revealed the "red flag" that made her first begin to question her relationship with her ex-fiancé, Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee.

In a recent interview with Insider promoting her book "I Choose Myself," she recalled that when Shake met her family, her sister-in-law asked him an admittedly "hard" question: "What are your values?"

According to Deepti, his answer wasn't just lackluster, it was non-existent. She recalled him saying, "I don't know. I'll get back to you on that."

"And so that was kind of a red flag for me, because you should know what your values are and your morals," the reality star said. "I think that's the deepest part of you."

Deepti said that there's "obviously good" in Shake, along with the bad, and that she doesn't regret her experience on the show and with him.

In her book, she described an incident she witnessed when she was out with Shake and he accidentally spilled a drink on another woman and "proceeded to lick her entire body — from her stomach to the top of her neck to clean it off without even giving her a chance to back away."

She told Insider that his behavior showed his "character" in that moment.

"Sometimes he gets a little too excited and does certain things without self-awareness or acknowledging how it may impact other people," Deepti said.

But even in those difficult moments, the reality star said she was still learning about Shake and does not think she could've acted differently.

"Honestly, I feel like I did the best I could with what I had," Deepti said. "I always give people the benefit of the doubt and look for good in people. And sometimes that bites me in the ass, and it sucks, but it's a learning thing."

"You can't compromise who you are as a person, and you should give love openly, but also recognize that when you're giving it to the wrong person, you need to just step away and shift that energy to something else," she added.

Deepti is honest about times when her own behavior was questionable in her book

Deepti's book doesn't only shine a light on Shake's behavior; she also examines events from her own past, like catfishing men online when she was younger, which nearly got her in trouble with the law.

She said she knew that her behavior wasn't right, but it's an important part of her journey because it was "scary" but "a catalyst to my change" and eventually helped her learn to love herself more.

She said she was also proud to "humanize" catfishing for her readers because people who do it might have "deep-rooted issues."

"And so I really encourage people to look inward and see why is it that you don't want to be yourself? Why is it that you're having so much self-hate? Because that's what I was going through," Deepti explained.

After her difficult experience with Shake and breaking up with fellow cast member Kyle Abrams, Deepti told Insider she's now looking for a partner who is authentic and has "some realness" along with "high emotional intelligence" and "self-awareness."

"I Choose Myself" is available for purchase now. The first seven episodes of "Love Is Blind" season three are currently streaming on Netflix.