The Bachelorette alum Nayte Olukoya has moved to Los Angeles, CA, to pursue a career as a model after his breakup with Michelle Young.
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According to a source, "Nayte moved to Los Angeles two weeks ago. It's something that's been in the back of his mind for some time," Us Weekly reported on Friday, July 22.
Nayte is currently sharing a place with fellow The Bachelorette 18 suitor Rodney Mathews.
"Nayte wants to get into modeling," the source said. "He's still doing tech sales so modeling would be more of a hobby."
Nayte is reportedly "happy being single" and has just been "enjoying his summer" so far.
"[He's] getting to spend time with friends and getting situated in L.A.," the source added. "He'll be doing more traveling like to Cancun in August."
Nayte proposed marriage to Michelle on The Bachelorette's Season 18 finale, which aired in December 2021, and the couple appeared blissfully happy. The couple was even gifted a $200,000 check for a down payment on their first house.
However, Michelle seemingly wanted to stay in her hometown of Minnesota, where her family currently lives and where she also held down a job as a fifth-grade teacher that she loved.
Nayte therefore said after the show wrapped that he planned to move to Minneapolis for Michelle in the next two or three months -- which would've been in early 2022 -- and the couple claimed they had already begun house-hunting.
But Nayte clearly never made the move, and he and Michelle continued dating long-distance until they announced their split in June via separate statements on their Instagram accounts.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWNayte claimed in June via social media that he and Michelle had decided not to move to the same city in order not to rush anything.
"Plans changed as we decided there was no need to rush anything and get to know each other on a deeper level before taking the leap of living together," Nayte wrote via Instagram.
"There's no rush in life. There's no rule book or timeline on how to go about your relationship. We believed that since the love was there, everything would fall into place naturally and in its own time."
"We tried," he added. "It didn't work. We're sad about it. We all grieve different."
During a May episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, which is co-hosted by Michelle and Season 14 The Bachelorette alum Becca Kufrin, Michelle explained how she and Nayte had been talking about settling down together.
Michelle suggested she was ready to cool her jets after traveling to New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, Canada and more.
"I feel like [us moving in together] is the burning question. Every time I do a Q&A online, everyone is like, 'Why haven't you moved in yet? When are you moving in together?'" Michelle said.
"And really, it's just that we're trying to figure out where we want to be and what location we want to be at. It's just a constant, ongoing conversation and kind of depends [on] what next year is going to look like for me."
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Michelle subsequently insisted to Ashley Iaconetti on the "Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" that her decision would've been the same regardless of the status of her relationship with Nayte and new career goals to be an influencer and such.
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Michelle, however, noted how a break from teaching would have "naturally" resulted in spending more time with Nayte, suggesting the career change may have been a last-ditch effort to save her romance before he pulled the plug in June.
Neither Michelle or Nayte have explained why exactly they broke up, but Nayte denied ever cheating on Michelle in a June 25 Instagram Stories posting.
"No, I didn't cheat," Nayte reportedly wrote.
"Not every breakup needs to have someone to blame. Yes, many of you seem to paint me as a red flag [or] f-ck boy... But I'm actually a decent guy, and I only want to continue getting better. As we should all want for ourselves."
But Michelle hinted on the July 5 episode of the "Almost Famous Podcast" that Nayte was the one who decided to end their engagement.
"I will say this is not something that I foresaw, and I'll leave it there," Michelle admitted.
The Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe, who hosted Michelle's season alongside Tayshia Adams, confirmed on a recent episode of her "Off the Vine" podcast that she has spoken to Michelle and Michelle was "definitely blindsided" by the breakup.
"She was confused because I think it was, like, after her birthday, and she was like, 'Wait, what?'" Kaitlyn explained. "I don't know what happened."
While Kaitlyn doesn't know for sure what went wrong, the Season 11 The Bachelorette star pondered why Nayte might have ended his engagement to Michelle.
"I don't know this for a fact -- it's just in my opinion. I'm like, 'Did he just like the attention, or did he find someone else?" Kaitlyn asked, questioning Nayte's intentions and motivation.
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Deandra, who competed on Peter Weber's The Bachelor season in 2020, attended Nayte's birthday party with other Bachelor Nation members earlier this month and appeared to be wearing his necklace in photos uploaded on social media.
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Michelle reportedly unfollowed -- or blocked, according to speculation -- Nayte on Instagram the same weekend as his party as well as other The Bachelor fan accounts.
Photos of Michelle remain on Nayte's Instagram page from their time on The Bachelorette together, but Michelle wiped her account clean of Nayte, erasing any trace or memory of him.
While Michelle has given the impression she's pretty brokenhearted over the last month, a source told Us that she looked happy and radiant while attending Miami Swim Week in Florida.
Michelle "was in the best of spirits, sporting her megawatt smile," according to the source.
When Nayte first announced his split from Michelle in June, he wrote on Instagram Stories, "When we both started this journey, we were looking for our Soulmates. Our forever. Our best friends. However, as we grow and learn, we also realize that sometimes somebody that you hold dear to your heart isn't somebody that you're meant to spend the rest of your life with."
"Michelle and I are going to move forward separately. Hearts are heavy, emotions are high, and we are dealing with this the best way we can," he continued.
Nayte said his "heartbreak is real" and the couple would be keeping the details of their split private. He also defended the genuineness of their relationship, which ended only six months after the finale of their The Bachelorette season aired last year.
In Michelle's statement, she thanked Bachelor Nation for their support and noted how having a relationship in the public eye was not easy.
"I'm struggling to say that Nayte and I will be going our separate ways but I stand with him in knowing the heaviness that is present in both our hearts as this relationship has been very real for us," she wrote in June.
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"I will always acknowledge and appreciate the adventures, support, and growth both Nayte and this experience have brought me. At the same time, I'm deeply hurting and will need time and space to work through this heartbreak."
Michelle and Nayte's split announcement came only a few weeks after Michelle took to Instagram on May 30 to deny rumors that The Bachelorette couple had split up and ended their engagement.
Michelle was spotted without her engagement ring on, but Michelle said her friend had tried on her ring momentarily and she's not a "zoo exhibit" for people to watch and record on their phones.
In April, Michelle had said she and Nayte were in the beginning stages of wedding planning.
"Nayte and I, we know so many different people and we have such big families and that's a huge part of [our planning process]," Michelle explained at the time.
"And so coming out of a pandemic... one thing that we both can't imagine is having a small wedding," the Minnesota native added, "and so we want to make sure that we're completely clear of that so that's not even a stressor for us, and then, [we want to have] warm weather [on our big day]."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
