Peter Weber has slammed former The Bachelor producer Julie LaPlaca for exposing intimate details about their relationship during production.
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Years after leaving her The Bachelor position in 2021, Julie wrote a book, The Love Producer, sharing juicy behind-the-scenes details about her time producing love stories for The Bachelor franchise.
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Teasing the July 7 release of The Love Producer, Julie, 41, told Entertainment Weekly this past spring that she had an extremely close relationship with Peter -- and that maybe they got a little too close -- while filming The Bachelor's 24th season in 2019.
Before Peter's The Bachelor season even premiered in January 2020, spoilers were circulating about how his season ended, including a theory that he was secretly dating his producer, who ended up being Julie.
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Julie previously told EW, "There were moments where I was like, 'Wow, I'm more open with Peter than I was with my boyfriend of five years.' There's this interesting bond that people don't see, the intimacy that the lead producers have with the people they're with. It got complicated and lines became blurred."
Ahead of the book release, Nick Viall vented in an Instagram clip of his "The Viall Files" podcast that Julie's decision to write personal details about her complicated relationship with Peter was "gross."
"This [producer] is [a lead]'s lifeline. This person is their therapist. This person is with the lead for at least six months... The immense power that this person has over the lead is -- I can't even articulate how much this is," Nick said.
The Season 21 The Bachelor star added, "The person most responsible for [Peter]'s feelings was this Julie girl who was clearly thinking about her own interests. What you don't get to do is seduce [the lead]. Peter begged her... 'Please don't exploit my story'... and she did it any way."
Nick said lines should never be "blurred" in this producer-lead dynamic because the producer "had harassment training."
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Peter, 34, commented on the Instagram post, "I've moved on from this period of my life and I'm ultimately responsible for my choices."
He continued, "What I'll say is this; I asked Julie on multiple occasions to please keep private, intimate details, private. This wasn't about a tv show anymore."
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Peter proceeded to call out Julie, claiming she had given him some manipulative, bad advice during filming.
"Curious though if she mentions in the book about my last one on one with [Hannah Ann Sluss], 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.
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"I find it wrong to mess with a person's headspace like that and then go on to write a book about them."
Viewers watched Peter get engaged to Hannah Ann during his season finale, but the pair ended their relationship before the live The Bachelor: After the Final Rose special aired in March 2020.
During After the Final Rose, Peter tried to reconcile with his runner-up, Madison Prewett, but their romance never really got off the ground post-show.
Peter also criticized former The Bachelor host Chris Harrison for writing the foreword of Julie's book.
"The fact that Chris endorsed this makes me sick," Peter concluded in his Instagram comment.
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When Julie spoke to EW in April promoting her book, she admitted that Peter was "not happy about it."
"I will be sharing my truth that I suppressed for a while. I dealt with some shame and some fear around sharing it.," Julie said at the time.
"And part of my journey was working through that and allowing myself to get to a place to be fully vulnerable -- like I got so many cast members to do. Every woman should own her story and own her truth... It's very juicy and Bachelor Nation is going to love it."
Julie later claimed that Peter had blocked her and they were no longer on speaking terms.
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After The Bachelor wrapped airing, Peter began to date his The Bachelor fifth-place finisher Kelley Flanagan in May 2020.
"Immediately after [the show], I dealt with a lot of hurt. I don't think Kelley wanted him to talk to me. That was my understanding, so we lost contact," Julie recalled this past spring.
"We had become so close. For nine months, I spent every day with him. There was a grief period there for many reasons."
Julie chose to leave her position with The Bachelor franchise after Matt James' season aired in 2021.
"I was linked in the tabloids to a Bachelor and got a little entangled with that fantasy, which ultimately led me to a mid-30s meltdown, where I quit and embarked on my own journey for love," Julie explained.
Peter and Kelley had an on-again, off-again relationship. They broke up once in February 2021, with Kelley revealing things had ended "really badly."
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But the pair appeared to get back together in August 2022.
Peter and Kelley confirmed their relationship was back on via social media in October 2022, but they officially split -- once and for all -- in early 2023.
"Once they broke up, we reconnected and were friends and stayed in touch here and there and had a few moments," Julie claimed of Peter.
"I'll get into it all and the complications there [in my book]... Peter has a bad rep, but I really adore him as a person. I think he's a wonderful person. He had a complicated season, but as a person, he means well and he's a really good guy."
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