Former The Bachelor producer Julie LaPlaca has responded to Peter Weber and Nick Viall's recent jabs over her new book, which exposes details about her professional-turned-intimate relationship with Peter.

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"It's been a really interesting week. Honestly, I guess it's a little hurtful that both of these men I offered to let read the book and both of them ghosted me and are forming their own opinions now without understanding my heart and what I put into it," Julie said on the Tuesday, July 7 episode of "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast."

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"So, yeah, it's been a little interesting. It's really interesting to see the power of a man with a mic and the assumptions people form just based off of one person's words. So yeah, it's been interesting."

Julie continued, "But also, he's entitled to his opinion."

Ashley Iaconetti, who co-hosts the podcast with Ben Higgins, asked for clarification on whether Julie was talking about Peter or Nick.

"I guess I'm talking and putting both of them in together. Both of them were offered copies of the book, and both of them stopped responding to me," Julie said.

"So neither of them were actually reading the book."

Prior to the July 7 release of Julie's memoir, The Love Producer, Nick -- who starred on The Bachelor's 21st season -- vented in an Instagram clip of his "The Viall Files" podcast that Julie's decision to write personal details about Peter was exploitive, "manipulative" and "gross."

Peter commented on the Instagram post and said he's responsible for his own choices, but he also vented, "I asked Julie on multiple occasions to please keep private, intimate details, private. This wasn't about a TV show anymore."

Peter filmed The Bachelor's 24th season under Julie's direction and guidance in late 2019, and the show aired from early January through mid-March 2020.

Once Julie's book was made available, fans learned that Julie and Peter allegedly had sex multiple times, including one encounter before they filmed his The Women Tell All special while the last few episodes of his The Bachelor season were still airing on ABC.

At that point, Peter's engagement to his The Bachelor winner, Hannah Ann Sluss, had already ended.

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Julie claimed she and Peter -- who briefly tried to make things work with his runner-up, Madison Prewett, following his live After the Final Rose special -- had sex again, multiple times, in March 2020.

Peter, however, moved on with Kelley Flanagan. After the pair was spotted together in Chicago in late March 2020, they went Instagram official in May 2020.

Peter and Kelley proceeded to have an on-again, off-again romance until their official split in early 2023.

Julie said she finally professed her love to Peter over the phone in March 2024 -- which was about four years after they last hooked up -- but they both decided their timing was always off and they should just remain friends.

Julie admitted to Ashley and Ben that she's "not shocked" Peter is so upset with her.

"I think he's operating from a place of fear, and understandably so. All I can do is send him love... I think he came into my life for a reason, and I'm grateful for what the situation with him led me to," Julie shared.

"So I'm at peace with not staying friends. I feel bad he's so upset, but I think I knew, intuitively, that I needed to share this story. It's not just a Tell-All about Peter; it's about my journey and my story that he was a character [in]."

Julie said that she knew she had to share her truth, and, for so many years, she didn't.

"I think I didn't because of not wanting to hurt [Peter]. But I've let men hold me back a lot in the past, and I just won't let them do that anymore," she noted.

Julie explained "there's a reason why" she waited six years after her intimate relationship with Peter to publish her memoir.

"After I left the show [in 2021], I dealt with a lot of shame around what happened -- on two fronts. There was the element of feeling like I failed as a producer and [it] also... triggered a lot of wounds from past men and relationships," Julie explained.

Julie said she felt like her entire identity was stripped from her and she was "left with nothing" after leaving the show.

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"I think Peter was the catalyst for me leaving something that no longer aligned with who I am and my values. And so, I understand. I get it," Julie noted.

"And also, for me to heal and the work I'm doing now, it's important for me to share my truth. I think when you hold shame inside, it's not a great place to be. When you work through that shame and release it and speak of it out loud, there's something really freeing about that."

Julie said carrying about "that lie" about her relationship with Peter was "really hard" and "painful" for her.

"When I went back into the work environment, I felt like I had the scarlet letter on my back," Julie recalled.

"It's not a good place to live. It's really what led me to leaving the show."

Julie said she hopes that when people read her book, they'll see her heart and know she was "coming from a place of love."

When Peter called Julie out on Nick's "The Viall Files" Instagram account, he claimed she had given him some manipulative and bad advice during filming.

"Curious though if she mentions in the book about my last one on one with Hannah Ann, and how in the middle of our dinner conversation during one on one producer interviews, Julie tells me 'you will look like the biggest idiot in the world to America if you give her your rose,'" Peter alleged.

"I find it wrong to mess with a person's headspace like that and then go on to write a book about them."

Julie was asked to address that Hannah Ann comment in particular on the "Almost Famous" podcast.

"That wasn't my proudest producing moment, and, again, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that I'm not able to talk about and influences above me that are going on that I unfortunately, and, again, this is probably what also led me to leave the show," Julie explained.

"Sometimes I'm directed to do certain things and I can't control that."

After Julie's book hit shelves, Peter also complained to TMZ, in part, "To have her laugh in my face while I was very vulnerably expressing my reasons for wanting to be left out of this book was unforgivable. (And yes, she knows I have the conversation recorded)."

Julie also revealed in her book that she was in talks to star on The Bachelorette for Season 16 -- at the time she was hooking up with Peter -- but the position ultimately went to Clare Crawley.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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