The Bachelorette alum John Hersey, Katie Thurston's new boyfriend, has denied any "wrongdoing" on their part and insisted Katie did not cheat on Blake Moynes when they were engaged.
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Katie's ability to move on so quickly from Blake raised eyebrows, and Blake said on the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast last week, "I don't think there was any physical cheating there, but there's clearly emotional [cheating] for it to transition as quickly as it did [from friendship to romance]."
John therefore took to Reddit to set the record straight on the circumstances in which he and Katie began dating.
"Hey everyone! John Hersey here. This is the first and likely only time I will ever address you all, the bachelor sub, directly. So let me take this opportunity to first thank all of you for the support, the laughs, the love, and the undeniably outspoken personalities that I have had the wonderful pleasure of being exposed to while here. You guys are fun (most of the time, haha)," John began.
"I'm sure there's no question why I've chosen this moment to speak up -- this has been a wild couple days to say the least. I am absolutely in favor of everybody having their own opinion, voicing that opinion, and hell, arguing and yelling about that opinion."
"What hurts me, however," he continued, "is watching SO many of you build assumptions and throw around accusations based on very limited knowledge of a situation."
John went on to say he "cannot" and does not blame anyone for this because only people closest to the "private situation" are clear about what happened.
"However, I do intend to share some insights that will hopefully allow you to better understand me, Katie, and our relationship," John wrote.
"Katie and I developed an incredible and deep friendship over the last half year or so. The circumstances by which this friendship formed was a series of crazy, random, and coincidental events, that I'm sure you will all hear about at a later time."
"My point for now, is that we were ALWAYS platonic," he clarified. "Even during my short stint on the season, we never had a chance to foster anything romantic (read as: John blew his chance and left the next day hahaha)."
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWJohn suggested that he totally respected Katie and Blake's relationship while they were together for six months. (Katie and Blake got engaged in April and then their engagement aired on The Bachelorette in August).
"The boundaries of our friendship with respect to her ongoing relationship never even required addressing, because it was never a thought in our minds that we would ever be anything more. You guys -- she was engaged," John explained.
"It is apparent that many of you misjudge how both her and I view that commitment. Neither Katie nor I would ever cheat, push someone to cheat, or be involved in cheating."
John insisted it's not in their "nature" to cheat on someone and such behavior "is not acceptable."
"It is not okay. On second thought, maybe this message deserves its own paragraph: There was no wrongdoing prior to the end of their engagement," John wrote.
"Furthermore, I understand that the timeline seems fast and messy. But I urge you to put yourselves in our shoes. Once Katie and I realized there was a romantic connection that we were interested in exploring, we were not starting from scratch; we were building off of the foundation of a close friendship through which, we had already gotten to know each other so well."
John apparently fell for Katie hard and fast once romance became an option for them.
"The speed at which I fell for this incredible, nurturing, and genuinely caring human being was honestly terrifying. I was scared. But every step of the way felt so right," John shared.
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John clarified the rapid rate at which he and Katie became a serious couple was "sure as hell" a first-time experience for him.
John also recognizes that many The Bachelor fans have disagreed and will still disapprove with how he and Katie went about their new relationship.
"To those of you that suggest we should have waited -- I understand. I hear you," John noted.
"But try to understand what it's like for me, a regular guy, falling helplessly for his best friend, not being able to take her out for dinner because photos would likely leak and everybody would assume we were trying to foster some sort of secret and scandalous relationship haha."
He elaborated, "Our decision to come out publicly was a decision to pursue happiness in the way we wanted. Disagreeing with someone for how they decide to go about it is okay. Everybody is different. I understand."
John proceeded to apologize to those he and Katie may have offended.
"Lastly and most importantly, I want to apologize to those of whom have felt emotionally triggered by how our actions have been perceived. It deeply saddens me to think that my and Katie's relationship could have been a source of anxiety for ANYONE," John wrote.
"As I mentioned before, cheating in any form is unacceptable, and I'm sorry if it looked as though either of us were taking advantage of anyone's trust."
"I have tried to respond directly to those individuals that were affected, but I know that I don't have the capability of finding absolutely everyone; so I hope this message finds you well."
John concluded his Reddit post by thanking readers for taking time out of their day to hear him out.
"It is not meant to be delivered from atop a soapbox; it is an honest conversation from me to you," John claimed.
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Blake, 31, admitted he was "flabbergasted" and "speechless" upon discovering Katie had begun dating John so quickly after their failed engagement on "Talking It Out," which is hosted by The Bachelorette alums Bryan Abasolo and Mike Johnson.
Katie went public with her new romance last week by posting footage of John on her Instagram Story set to Taylor Swift's "Begin Again," a song about falling in love all over again.
The John dedication served as the conclusion of Katie's "12 Days of Messy" challenge in which she had been tasked with matching every song on Taylor's re-released "Red" album to one of her Season 17 bachelors.
Blake called Katie's romance "a bomb drop" on him.
"Starting 12 days ago, I'm sure she probably knew who 'Day 12' was going to be and why. So when I think about our breakup happening roughly a month ago... I think, 'Okay, well, I know they spent a lot of time together and stuff, but... I never had an inkling," Blake said on the podcast.
"I'm just a very secure guy, a very confident guy, and I gave my trust out 100 percent, especially to the person I should be trusting the most."
Blake told Mike and Bryan that he feels "stupid and foolish for allowing" Katie and John to reconnect in such an intimate way.
"I don't know if it was partially me too. Like, was she in some sense emotionally cheating to some degree because I wasn't able to provide something with words of affirmation?" questioned Blake, who previously revealed part of the reason he and Katie split is because they have different love languages.
The wildlife manager from Canada acknowledged how he struggles to verbalize his feelings sometimes and wonders now where he fit into all the "chaos" of Katie's journey to find love, which included heartbreaks from Greg Grippo and Michael Allio.
"I try to stand by having no regrets, but it's instances like this when you really start to fight yourself with having no regrets with things, just the way things played out," Blake said.
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This past summer, Katie posted footage of herself at a bar John works at in San Diego, which prompted rumors John may have been the winner of her The Bachelorette season.
However, The Bachelorette viewers saw Katie eliminate John during Week 2 of the process and eventually accept a marriage proposal from Blake on the Season 17 finale.
Katie proceeded to move to San Diego and continue hanging out with John while Blake traveled to Africa to pursue his wildlife conservation efforts.
Katie and Blake attempted to make a long-distance relationship work as people simultaneously questioned if sparks were flying between Katie and John.
"Internet rumors lead me to this guy becoming a dear dear friend," Katie reportedly wrote on Instagram in September after enjoying a day out with John in California.
While Katie was trying to mend her broken heart in late October, she uploaded a photo of John's dog to her Instagram Story and wrote, "Dexter forcing me out of the house this morning."
Katie had addressed the John dating rumors in early November but danced around an official confirmation or denial.
At the time, Katie shared a throwback video of "the first time I saw John since filming" on her Instagram Story that showed Polaroid photos of the supposed close pals playing cards together, Us Weekly reported.
"Y'all getting wild in my DMs," Katie wrote along with a laughing emoticon on November 7.
Blake said on "Talking It Out" that he "trusted everything" Katie had told him and he had no doubt in his mind that Katie and John's relationship "was nothing more than literally just a friendship."
"I don't think anything was happening during the time that we were engaged. I really don't," Blake said.
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Blake said although his breakup with Katie was "mutual," her feelings for John may have helped their engagement to "abruptly end the way it did and as easy as it did."
"Even though it was mutual, was he always in her back pocket?" Blake wondered. "I don't know."
Blake therefore suggested John may have been Katie's "Plan B" based on the timeline.
"She must have at least had some emotional connection, right?!" Blake asked Bryan and Mike. "It happened too quickly! How? Two weeks after?! There had to have been something there."
Blake said John must have been providing Katie with something he wasn't giving her -- but he is now "done with the messiness."
A source told Us earlier this month that Katie has found "clarity" and now "knows what she wants in a husband" after her failed engagement to Blake.
But when Katie accepted Blake's marriage proposal on The Bachelorette, she seemed totally convinced that he was The One for her.
"I think everyone can agree that this is exactly who I was supposed to be with. He fought to be here for me and chose to stay even when I'm telling him to his face that I considered leaving," Katie said on The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose.
"That he was confident enough to hold both of us [until] the end. I'm just so lucky. I love him so much."
Blake recently admitted his breakup with Katie "hasn't been easy."
Katie previously hinted on social media that she and Blake were fighting too much during their six-month relationship and broke up due to their different communication styles.
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An insider told The Sun, however, that Katie's "outbursts eventually became too much" for Blake "to handle."
On November 1, Blake shared on Instagram how he had been relying on family, friends and his dogs to get him through his breakup with Katie.
"When times are really tough and things just aren't going the way you had hoped... it's always the same 'gang' that gets ya back on your feet," Blake wrote at the time.
Blake said it felt good to "start getting back into the swing of things."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
