Kristin Cavallari Says Mark Estes Will ‘Thank Me’ One Day for Ending Relationship: ‘The Best Boyfriend I’ve Ever Had’

Kristin Cavallari is addressing her recent breakup with Mark Estes.

During the Tuesday, Oct. 1 episode of her Let’s Be Honest podcast, the Laguna Beach alum, 37, opened up about why she and the Montana Boyz TikToker, 24, decided to go their separate ways after seven months of dating.

“Mark and I broke up,” she told listeners with a sigh. “It’s hard because I broke up with Mark because I just know long-term it’s not right, and it’s not because of love lost or something bad happened.”

Cavallari explained that “no one cheated” or “was mean,” and noted that “those breakups” are almost easier when the guy “does something that makes you hate him.” Estes, on the other hand, had always been “nothing but be so sweet and so supportive.”

“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,” she shared. “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.”

The television personality said that she’s “always been well aware” of their 13-year age gap and hasn’t been “ignoring the fact that he was younger.” However, she doubled down on their partnership being “the best relationship of my life” and called it “very healthy and very mature” despite being in different periods of their lives.

“He will make someone so happy one day … and he will have a beautiful family of his own,” she continued. “I know that one day he will look back and understand it and I actually think one day he will look back and thank me.”

Whether or not Estes agrees, Cavallari said it’s difficult to have a certain type of “hindsight” when you’re 24 years old and she knows she has the “life experience” to recognize that “this is actually the best thing for him.”

“I don’t regret going public with him. I don’t regret introducing him to my kids,” she said. “I don’t regret anything. It was such a good, happy relationship. And I think with every relationship you learn and you grow from, and I will forever look back at Mark and I with such fond memories and just pure happiness.”

While the two are no longer together, Cavallari said she’s “optimistic” they will remain friends and would love to continue to have him in her life “in some capacity.” The podcast host also claimed that she had “no interest in getting back into the dating world right now.”

“I’m really happy and really content having my life right now being about my kids and work,” she explained, adding that she’d like to prioritize her happiness which includes “peace” and “making this home exactly how I want it.”

Cavallari continued, “I just want to really take care of myself. I’m like really feeling this energy of just wanting to feel really good and making myself a priority and so I don’t really know where men fall on that list. I guess they sort of don’t, and in a few months, I’m sure that’ll change. But right now, I that’s kind of all I want to do.”

The former reality star’s comments come after a source confirmed to PEOPLE on Sept. 27 that the couple had split. Cavallari also confirmed the breakup during Alex Cooper’s Unwell tour stop in Austin, Texas, telling the Call Her Daddy host it was “fresh.”

Shortly after the breakup becoming public, another insider revealed to PEOPLE that the pair had been on different pages before calling it quits.

“They were just heading in different directions,” the source said of why the couple went their separate ways. “The age difference played a factor but there’s no drama. She has love and respect for him.”