The Bachelorette star Katie Thurston has apparently accused Greg Grippo of gaslighting her during their heated and emotional argument that aired during The Bachelorette's penultimate episode of Season 17.
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But The Bachelorette star seemingly couldn't remain silent, and so she took to her Instagram Stories later on and posted an Instagram Stories post that read, "So you want to talk about gaslighting."
Katie's Instagram Stories post linked to a "Gaslighting" slideshow post on another Instagram account that includes a definition for gaslighting.
The Instagram slideshow defines "gaslighting" as "a form of emotional abuse or psychological manipulation involving distorting the truth in order to confuse or instill doubt in another person to the point they question their own sanity or reality."
It also lists the following as signs of gaslighting: "lying, discrediting, deflecting blame, minimizing, shifting blame and denying wrongdoing."
While Katie didn't name Greg directly or even mention her The Bachelorette breakup, fans were led to assume she was referring to Greg as the gaslighter since social media was buzzing about their brutal breakup at the time and many Twitter users had even called Greg out for emotionally manipulating Katie.
During Monday night's The Bachelorette episode -- which Katie watched back with friends -- Greg poured his heart out to Katie in tears after she met his family, saying he was "in love with" her and planned to get down on one knee.
He said Katie had filled a hole in his heart that was formed from his beloved father's tragic passing.
But instead of giving Greg the validation he needed in such a vulnerable moment, Katie just looked at the bachelor longingly, giggled and replied, "I just love looking at you."
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Katie explained that she wanted to save her "I love you" for her final bachelor at the Final Rose Ceremony and she felt she had given Greg confidence in their romance all season long, but Greg apparently felt he had lost the authentic Katie he had grown to adore that evening.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWThe next day, Greg visited Katie in her hotel room and essentially accused her of being guarded as well as too focused on giving out roses and the competitive aspect of the show.
Greg seemed desperate for reassurance that their love and their relationship was "real," but Katie only turned the suitor off more once she called him her "No. 1 since the beginning."
Katie asked Greg to trust her because she cared for him immensely, but she was still holding out on the depth of her feelings -- although Greg was her clear choice out of the Final 3 bachelors.
Greg therefore said he was "done" and quit the show, which left Katie bawling in a bathroom and questioning if she should end The Bachelorette process early and just go home because she had lost her confidence and felt "destroyed."
Bachelor Nation had mixed reactions to Greg and Katie's explosive breakup.
The Bachelor alum Bekah Martinez tweeted, "I can't believe people are justifying this because of his trauma from his dad passing. Completely unacceptable and toxic behavior."
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But The Bachelor alum Caila Quinn wrote about Greg, "It wasn't about what place he was in, it wasn't about The Bachelor, it wasn't about the rose. It was about his heart."
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Former The Bachelor star Nick Viall agreed with Greg that Katie's response to him pouring his heart out was "surface level."
"Katie once again for, like, the fourth time this season is just like, 'You don't seem happy.' And he just talked about his father and he's crying... I didn't understand Katie's response, like, at all. And while I wouldn't have handled myself like Greg... I felt like Greg was this like, 'I'm so fragile right now and so vulnerable that I can't get down on one knee and propose and not know, it's me,'" Nick said on his The Viall Files podcast, according to Us.
"And I know he signed up for The Bachelorette... [But] it felt like Greg was just like, 'I don't know what I signed up for, but I need this to be real and it doesn't seem real to you.'"
But Bachelor in Paradise bartender Wells Adams reportedly pointed out to Nick on his podcast that Katie had given Greg "a lot of positive affirmation... more so than anybody else thus far on the show."
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Wells added, however, "What annoyed me about Greg was that, like, he didn't understand how the show works... For all of [Greg's] faults in all of this, he should have given her a little bit more grace in the whole situation."
And The Bachelorette alum Blake Horstmann seemed to take Katie's side in the matter.
"She is giving him as much as she can. To try and respect the other men she's not saying, 'I love you' because she wants to save that until the very, very end," Blake said, adding that it would have been awesome to receive such validation from Becca Kufrin on her The Bachelorette season in 2018.
"But this is the most I've ever seen a Bachelorette give a contestant before the end... You've got to remember how hard it is for Katie too."
The Bachelorette episode on Monday night ended on a cliffhanger, with Katie trying to decide if she could even most past her split from Greg and resume dating her Final 2 bachelors, Justin Glaze and Blake Moynes.
The Bachelorette's three-hour finale for Season 17 will air Monday, August 9 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
