It looks like yet another Bachelor couple has ended their relationship. Controversial Bachelor, Clayton Echard, and Susie Evans have broken up.
There have been many successful relationships to come out of the Bachelor franchise. Many couples have gone on to get married and have children together. The original Bachelorette, Trista Sutter, and her husband Ryan Sutter, are one of the best happy endings. They are coming up on 19 years of marriage and have two beautiful children. Another love story is Sean and Catherine Lowe, who have been married for seven years and have three adorable kids.
But not every couple to come out of Bachelor Nation is a long-term love match. Lately, a few couples who looked like "happily ever after" have decided to end things. Most recently, The Bachelorette Michelle Young split with fiancé Nate Olukoya. Before that, Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark called it quits.
And now, Clayton and Susie.
8 Clayton Echard As The Bachelor
Clayton Echard was one of the men trying to win the heart of Bachelorette Michelle Young. The former NFL player did not receive a final rose from Michelle, but did receive the role of The Bachelor.
Being a fan favorite, his season started off well. But when villain Shanae Ankney emerged, viewers did not appreciate Clayton's reaction to her. He decided to give her a rose after she mocked fellow contestant Elizabeth Corrigan's ADHD. He later claimed that he did not know the full story, but some other contestants believe he did. She was ultimately given the boot after a two-on-one date in week five.
But that was just the beginning. The end of his season was a true disaster.
7 Clayton Fell In Love With Three Women?
By the end of the season, many viewers were quite unhappy with Clayton. It came down to the final three, which were Susie Evans, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia. During Fantasy Suites, he told both Gabby and Rachel that he loved them.
With Susie, he said, "I have such strong feelings for you, very strong feelings," he said. "And I can tell you that right now I am the most in love with you. And I really felt like this can be it." But when he admitted to Susie that he told the other women he loved them, and slept with them, Susie walked away.
He eventually left both Gabby and Rachel heartbroken and worked things out with Susie after filming ended. They announced they were together on After the Final Rose.
6 Clayton and Susie's Relationship
After Clayton and Susie finally got together, it looked like they might be on the right track. Clayton decided to move to Virginia Beach to be with his love. "We do have future plans. We just haven't talked about an engagement or a wedding or anything like that, but Clayton's coming to Virginia," Evans told PEOPLE.
They posted a TikTok video of them dancing together after the move in, "Finding out we're equally as weird," Susie joked.
This past March, the couple went on a cross-country road trip together, and in April, Clayton took Susie to his hometown of Eureka, Missouri. It looked like all was right in this relationship.
5 Did Clayton Echard Cheat on Susie Evans?
In April, Clayton was accused of cheating on Susie. A woman named Sasha Narang claimed on TikTok that she met The Bachelor in a NYC bar and went home with him. She said that she did not know who the man was until she went home and googled him.
Echard vehemently denied the accusation. He posted a video clip with his phone locater tracker which showed he was in a gym in Arizona, and nowhere near NYC at the time.
Bachelor in Paradise star Noah Erb defended Clayton. He posted on his Instagram story that someone was pretending to be The Bachelor and Sasha was "catfished".
4 Were There Signs Of A "Claysie" Split?
In August, the couple stated that they would no longer be living together, and were going to a long-distance relationship.
Clayton told the 'Not Skinny but Not Fat' podcast, "It's only a 50-minute flight apart, but we're both chasing our dreams, and I think for location-wise, we both feel that those are the spots that we want to be in," Clayton shared. "I'm working on my computer 10, 12 hours a day. So she was like, 'Clayton, I'll move to L.A. and then we can travel on the weekends to see each other.' And we'll see."
He added that this did not mean that there was trouble in paradise. But did it?
3 Clayton And Susie End Their Relationship
Clayton and Susie shared the same post on their Instagram announcing their split. Six months after they began, they posted, "With incredibly heavy hearts, we wanted to share that we have decided to go our separate ways. For anyone who has ever loved, knows this was a painful decision to make and not one taken lightly.
We understand that there will likely be a lot of questions about this decision — social media is definitely a highlight reel and much of our experiences together we have kept private as I’m sure most can understand. But we will share this — although this last year together has brought us so much joy and so many laughs, there has also been a significant amount of pain. We know no healthy relationship comes without its struggles, but we’ve realized that we were not prepared for the external forces that hindered our ability to not only heal as individuals but also as a couple. We both are focused on continuing to work on ourselves, so we can be the best version of ourselves.
This is not an easy time for either of us but we stand in support of each other and hope to see the other go on to find happiness and healing. Although Claysie is no more, we hope that our communities can support us individually as we move forward with love and respect for each other.
Thank you to all of you that supported our relationship. It means so much more than you will ever know."
2 Rachel And Gabby As The Bachelorettes
Sometimes, living well is the best revenge. After their heartbreak, ABC announced that Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey would be the first Co-Bachelorettes. The two new besties got to choose from their own groups of men, and Clayton was long forgotten.
The season ended great for Gabby. She is now engaged to Erich Shwer, the man of her dreams. She is also now competing on Dancing With the Stars.
But Rachel still did not get her happy ending.
1 Will Clayton Echard Get Back With Rachel Recchia?
At the end of the "most dramatic" Bachelorette season ever, Rachel became engaged to Tino. But this engagement did not go well at all. Her new fiancé cheated on her, and she ended the relationship.
So now, Echard and Recchia both find themselves single once again. There is speculation that the two may reconnect. They were once in love, and some think she never really got over him.
But could Rachel ever trust Clayton again after he broke her heart? Only time will tell.
