BachelorClayton Echardregrets how he approached the ongoing drama between contestants Elizabeth Corrigan and Shanae Ankney.
Echard then chose to cancel the cocktail party and promptly began the rose ceremony, in which he ultimately sent home Corrigan, while he handed out a rose to Ankney.
In a post shared on social media on Tuesday, Echard apologized for the shocking elimination decision, saying he wasn’t aware of the full extent of the problem between the two women.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth, for what you’re going through. I wish I could have seen what was happening when I wasn’t there. I obviously knew y’all weren’t in a good place, but at the time I thought it was, solely, petty drama,” he said in a statement shared across his social media accounts.
“I would have sent Shanae home immediately for making fun of you for being neurodivergent, had I known,” Echard’s apology continued. “Overall, the experience for me watching hasn’t been fun, simply because I’m seeing all the damage that I caused. I really meant well, but my actions weren’t always the best as I now can see the repercussions from my decisions.”
Concluding the apology, theBachelorettealum added: “I can promise you I’m learning from the mistakes though and am doing everything in my power to come out the other side a better man.”
“I began this season with a simple photo of my great grandparents and one question in my heart. What serendipity had brought me to meet this man? I now have my answer,” she wroteon Instagram.
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“Though I did not find love with @claytonechard and am left still searching for my final rose I did find love in all of you, especially in the neuro-divergent community who has surrounded me in a blanket of their love and support,” she continued. “The sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling in the mansion, the tormenting, the attacks, the bullying, the gaslighting, the physical abuse, the not being believed … have all been worth it. Because you know what? Your stories have brought me to tears and changed my life, your vulnerability and finally … allowing me to be seen. Thank you. Thank you for seeing me.”
Corrigan said she used to be mocked for her condition as a young child. Now living as an adult with ADHD and “severe” anxiety, she said she has often felt “different” from her peers. She said it has also made her feel as if she’s “not good enough” — but she’s since changed her tune on the matter.
“Being different doesn’t make you lesser, it makes you strong because you have to overcome,” she continued. “The biggest advice I can give to you as a woman and as a friend is to believe in yourself, believe in your intuition — it is strong, it is powerful and it KNOWS.”
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“Listen to those around you who love and support you, and drown out the voices of those that do not, they are facing their own battles,” she added. “Know that at the end of the day no matter who or what you are facing, YOU get to decide how to react YOU get to decide in that moment who you will be. Choose integrity. Choose respect. Choose yourself.”
Corrigan hasn’t directly responded to Echard’s public apology, though she reacted tothe former athlete’s tweeton how he’s “looking forward to having an open and honest discussion” about everything that occurred at the upcomingWomen Tell Allspecial.
“It’s important to hold people accountable, including myself,” Echard added, to which Corriganreplied, “I’m ready.”
The Bachelorairs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
source: people.com
