Former Bachelor Clayton Echard is taking accountability for his actions, apologizing to ex-girlfriend Susie Evans for how he reacted when he was accused of cheating.
“I wasn’t completely a gentleman. I just remember back to the night,” Echard, 31, admitted during the Wednesday, September 18, episode of Evans’ “Live, Laugh, Lies” podcast. “It was high stress [and I] took an edible.”
Evans, 31, assured Echard that he was actually “fine,” considering the stressful situation.
Back in April 2022, a TikTok user claimed that she hooked up with a former Bachelor star who was still in a relationship with his season’s winner after meeting at a bar in New York City. She later confirmed that she was speaking about Echard, who subsequently denied the claims.
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“I was eating pizza, minding my own business [and] laying on my brother’s couch because I just moved [to] Scottsdale and [was] waiting for the show to air,” Echard recalled on Wednesday. “All of a sudden, I see this girl [saying], ‘I hooked up with this Bachelor,’ and people are looking at her and she’s in New York.”
According to Echard, he initially thought the woman was referring to fellow franchise alum Matt James since he lived in the Big Apple.
“I was like, ‘No way, Matt,’” Echard added. “So, I’m, like, crushing this pizza and like, ‘Well, this is my Friday night plan to just keep refreshing this and reading all the comments,’ and then she tagged me. I remember I was so high that I was wiping my eyes, like, ‘I’m projecting this on the screen. This isn’t actually happening.’”
Echard quickly realized that the allegations were real because his “phone started blowing up.” He was also nervous about how Evans, who was working at a wedding as the event photographer, would react.
“I said, ‘Send me your location! Send me screenshots [and] send me all your proof,’” Evans recalled on the episode. “And then if none of this matches up, I’m calling The Bachelorette and I’m [asking], ‘Is there room on the ship? I’m coming on the ship. Please tell me there’s leftover boys.’”
Evans left Echard’s season of The Bachelor early after learning he was intimate with his fellow finalists. Echard later dumped Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey in favor of rekindling a romance with Evans, pursuing her after the dating show wrapped.
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Season 26 of the ABC dating series aired from January to March 2022, and after revealing their reunion during the finale, Evans and Echard called it quits in September 2022. Evans praised Echard on Wednesday for handling the public scandal like “a gentleman.”
Echard recalled how he “sobered up” and used his phone’s location services to show Evans proof of his whereabouts. He was glad that they ended on “good terms” and she believed his account.
The TikToker, however, doubled down on her accusations, prompting a then-confused Evans to call Echard again to make sure he didn’t have an affair. He confessed to feeling “upset” by her lack of trust.
“I think I lacked the emotional intelligence,” Echard said on the podcast. “[It] was already high-stress, like, way over my stress limit and so everything to me was an attack where I’m like, ‘Hey, you’re the one that’s gotten me through all these tough times like now [and this] person that has been protecting me is questioning me.’”
Evans ultimately believed Echard after receiving further evidence. Two years after their relationship ended, Evans gushed on Wednesday that she was so “proud” of Echard’s self-growth.
