The Bachelorette star Jenn Tran was disheartened that her ex-fiancé, Devin Strader, released their private text messages in an attempt to defend himself.
“I have no idea why someone would do this, let alone someone I was engaged to, [and] release private texts between us two,” Jenn, 26, said during the Thursday, September 12, episode of the “Viall Files” podcast, which was recorded one day earlier. “When you get engaged to somebody [or] when you’re dating somebody, your first thought is never, ‘Oh my gosh, these texts might be blasted for the whole world to see.’ Like, that is such an invasion of privacy.”
Jenn and Devin, 28, proposed to each other during the season finale of The Bachelorette season 21, which aired earlier this month. The pair confirmed their breakup during the live After the Rose special on September 3. One week later, Devin released a 13-minute Instagram video to share his point of view of what transpired, including hundreds of screenshots of their text exchanges.
“I felt so betrayed, so disrespected and, honestly, just upset and disappointed,” Jenn explained to podcast host Nick Viall. “I don’t have a problem with him going out there and saying what he needs to say, but I have a problem with him invading my privacy and releasing texts without telling me [and] without giving me notice.”
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She added, “Also some of the things, he conveniently blurred out certain things but forgot to blur out other things that were very, very private. Like, my mom’s on the internet, dude, what’s up with that? It was disrespectful and I don’t appreciate it at all.”
Immediately after posting, Devin shared an apology message to his Instagram Story and deleted the video. He subsequently posted a new version without the text screenshots, which has since been deleted. Devin has not further addressed the video message. Jenn, for her part, chose not to watch its content.
“I don’t plan on it. I know what happens, I don’t need to watch a 13-minute video on it,” she said. “He’s wasted, already, six months of my life; I’m not going to give him another second let alone 13 minutes. I’m all set.”
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Jenn heard about what Devin claimed through her inner circle, who subsequently called and texted her after the news broke.
“He’s allowed to have a side to the story, like, he was a part of this relationship too,” Jenn said. “He has all the rights to say whatever he wants to say, and I’ll say it, he had time at AFR to say it. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t hear very much of anything, so he had time to share his peace. If he thinks that he wants to share more, he’s more than welcome to do that, [but] what I don’t condone is invading my privacy and going out and doing that.”
According to Jenn, her “Viall Files” podcast appearance will be the “last time” she publicly addresses the scandal.
“ At this point, I want to be done and I want to put this in the past,” she stressed. “I don’t need this breakup to be drawn out for six months. I’m done with it and I’m ready to move on. The way that he’s been behaving … shows to me that this is not the person I would ever want to spend the rest of my life with anyway.”
Jenn, who further called the breakup a “blessing in disguise,” is slowly healing through her Dancing With the Stars journey.
“I think after a heartbreak, you know, I’ve been through so many of these and after a big one, I really just need a different direction in my life,” Jenn exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “And dancing is something that I’ve always wanted to learn to do. So this new era is really just for me and I’m really excited about it.”
Dancing With the Stars premieres on ABC Tuesday, September 17, at 8 p.m. ET and will be simulcast on Disney+.
