Kaitlyn Bristowe Says Ex Jason Tartick 'Didn’t Protect' Her When Posting Moving Video After Split
The former 'Bachelorette' star said the exes "agreed on protecting each other" in the aftermath of their split
Kaitlyn Bristowe is opening up about how she feels Jason Tartick dropped the ball since the pair ended their engagement.
Bristowe, 38, has been reflecting on the social media negativity she's received since she and Tartick, 34, announced their split last month, primarily placing blame on her for the relationship's demise while supporting Tartick.
"I definitely will hold myself accountable for certain things in the relationship but ... they don't know anything," the former Bachelorette star said on the latest episode of her Off the Vine podcast with guest Amanda Hirsch. "I'm going to grieve. I genuinely lost a friend out of this breakup. Like, it's just crazy. I knew it was going to be bad. I didn't know it was going to be that bad of what people were saying to me."
Bristowe then called out the Trading Secrets podcaster for not coming to her defense amid the ongoing criticism, especially as he was "leaning into" that narrative of him being "sad" by posting a video with their dogs Ramen and Pinot watching him move out. (Bristowe additionally noted how she was "crying in the bedroom" at the time of him moving out and filming the Instagram Reel.)
"We talked about, like, protecting each other through it because, like, of course, when you go through breakups, you want to have your side and someone have their side and you want to, like, justify it and say all these things," she said. "But we really agreed on protecting each other."
"It didn't protect me because it made me look like I was taking the dogs away from him," she continued, noting that she got "messages" about it afterward.
"It made me really sad because the dogs are literally our No. 1 priority through this," she added. "We are both obsessed with them and we have made it very clear that we're going to be sharing them."
In the video set to emotional music, the former couple's dogs appeared sad as Tartick placed his items from their shared home into a U-Haul truck. Tartick also noted that a good friend of his offered to help him move out.
"This has been another reminder to me that it’s ok to show weakness, it’s ok to ask for help and that the support from family/friends is truly unbreakable when they know you really need to lean in," he captioned the Instagram Reel. "Promise sad posts will be behind me shortly, it just felt too meaningful not to share. Thank you for everyone who has given respect and grace over the last month."
Bristowe and Tartick announced their split in August after four years together. In their joint statement, the pair — who got engaged in May 2021 — said they "feel grateful to be ending our engagement with love and respect for each other" and that it's "heartbreaking and sad to say goodbye, but our care and admiration for one another will never die."
Bristowe later said that there were "no sides" to take in the breakup.
"I've never respected someone more through a breakup than I do with Jason," she said on Off the Vine last month. "I think people assume if people break up, something bad happened. And I think that's the hardest part of this whole breakup — nothing bad happened. It’s just been over time. We have both not made each other a priority."
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