Bachelor in Paradise alum Maurissa Gunn has shared an update on the current status of her love-life following her split from her now ex-fiance Riley Christian.
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Maurissa, who first competed on Peter Weber's The Bachelor season in 2020 before getting engaged to Riley on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season in Summer 2021, said "it takes two to make" a relationship work, suggesting that Riley may not have done his part.
"It really sucks, coming out of an experience where you think everyone is looking for that. Especially when you think you found it, like a ring on your finger and everything," Maurissa lamented.
Back in late February, Maurissa appeared to slam Riley by retweeting two of her pal's fiery Twitter posts that were seemingly aimed at Riley, 32.
The Bachelor alum Deandra Kanu wrote, "I'm not an inherently messy person, but when I see things in real time and then see someone skew that perception for social media it's very scary."
"It's not okay by any means to be the catalyst of your own demise and then go onto socials and ask for the publics sympathy," she added in a second tweet. "There are always two sides to a story."
While Deandra didn't name Riley directly, her tweets came only one day after Riley posted a lengthy statement on Instagram about how he was trying to "heal" and bounce back from his breakup with Maurissa.
Riley captioned a photo of himself in a blue suit on February 17, "It takes a while for me to heal, but I thank you all for your patience. This has not at all been an easy time."
"This has been one of the most difficult times of my life, but as with everything I always do my best to move forward with hopeful and positive spirits. But you see, I was always taught by my pops that 'we bend but don't break.' But some very good people showed me otherwise."
Riley proceeded to thank a good friend and his mother for their support as well as give his father a shout-out, saying how his dad would be proud of him for the man he is today.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOWBack on February 9, Maurissa also spoke out about her difficult adjustment to single life.
"I'm back baby, and feeling better than ever. I know we're already in the month of February, but this year I have decided to focus on ME and put ME first," Maurissa wrote on Instagram.
"These last few months haven't been easy, but let me tell you today I feel amazing. Taking time to heal at my own pace was the best thing I could do. I would not be where I am without the amazing support system I have."
She added, "Thank you to everyone who has helped me through, and a huge [shout-out] to @black.on_ for reminding me who the heck I was and believing in me to become the BEST version of myself. Let's see what this year has to offer!"
Following weeks of breakup speculation, Riley and Maurissa confirmed their split in a joint statement on January 24, three months after their engagement aired during Bachelor in Paradise's Season 7 finale.
"We have decided to go our separate ways. Never did we imagine this, but we've come to a point where we both need to work on ourselves," the couple said in a statement at the time.
"We've appreciated everyone's love and support so far throughout our journey," they continued, "and we just ask that you please respect our privacy as we navigate through this."
Maurissa initially sparked the breakup rumors when she began slowly removing photos of Riley from her Instagram account, seemingly taking jabs at her ex-fiance.
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The Bachelor alum Natasha Parker offered some insight on the breakup in late January given she's very close friends with Maurissa and the girls had appeared on Bachelor in Paradise 7 together last summer.
"[Maurissa] was just saying how there was so much that happened between them that they kind of just wanted to keep it between each other, which I totally get," Natasha, 33, said during the January 27 episode of her "Click Bait With Bachelor Nation" podcast.
Natasha, however, suggested Maurissa had sacrificed a lot in order to be with Riley and so Maurissa was struggling in the relationship.
"I think that they just have very different lives, at least from my understanding of what she was saying," Natasha shared.
"She completely integrated into his life and I think that she kind of missed her family, she missed her friends."
Maurissa, originally from a small town in Montana -- where her family still lives -- moved from Atlanta to New York to be with Riley after the show aired last year.
Natasha noted how moving to New York "is not easy," adding, "It's a hard city, and if you're not used to it, [it's tough]."
When comparing Riley and Maurissa to other couples from Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season, Natasha pointed out how the engaged couple "jumped right in" to real life "as far as living together right away."
Natasha's podcast co-host Joe Amabile and his fiancee, Serena Pitt, for example, took their time in deciding they wanted to move to New York City together after the show.
"But [Maurissa] went full throttle. She put her all in and it didn't work out. She told me she has no regrets, and I think that's a beautiful thing," Natasha noted.
She added, "[Maurissa] did clarify they broke up a little while ago. The reason why they took so long to say something officially is because they wanted to both be sure that they wanted to go their separate ways."
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But The Bachelor alum Demi Burnett insisted in early February people don't know the real reasons why Maurissa and Riley broke up and appeared to suggest Riley may have been at fault for the split.
"Y'all got the Maurissa and Riley break up SO WRONG," Demi tweeted on February 3.
Demi claimed she was not after attention and was just trying to relay the truth about why Maurissa and Riley decided to end their engagement.
"I'm mad at the BS being portrayed!" Demi wrote on Twitter.
"I don't want to talk about it bc it's stressful and not my business to tell! BUT LOOK DEEPER LISTEN TO UR INTUITION."
Neither Maurissa or Riley responded to Demi's tweets, but Maurissa noticeably "liked" both of them!
Riley and Maurissa were anything but shy when it came to posting adorable photos of each other and gushing about their feelings on Instagram once they moved their romance into the real world last year.
The couple celebrated Christmas together in December and subsequently uploaded images of them posing in front of the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
Maurissa sweetly wrote late last year, "All I want for Christmas is you," before deleting the photo with Riley on her Instagram.
Additional signs pointing to a breakup fans noticed prior to Riley and Maurissa's split announcement was when Maurissa posted photos of herself making funny faces on January 7 and captioned the slideshow, "Don't worry, be happy."
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Martha reportedly wrote on the card, "If you haven't heard this today, I'm proud [of you]. You're an amazing person."
Maurissa replied on January 7, "Don't know what I would do without you sister."
For Riley's part, he uploaded a video of himself working out in early January with a cryptic caption about getting "knocked down," which may have been a reference to a rocky romance with Maurissa.
"We ain't come this far just to come this far. Work hard, stay humble, but still let 'em know that you got it. No matter how many times we get knocked down we get back up. Giving it everything we got all 2022," Riley wrote at the time.
Riley also tweeted, "Try not be stagnant when facing obstacles that are beyond your control. Just do what you can. That way, when things finally do fall into place, you'll be able to hit the ground running."
While Maurissa wiped her Instagram almost clean of Riley before their split was made official, Riley chose to keep most of his pictures with Maurissa on his account until People confirmed the news in late January.
Back in October 2021, Maurissa told People that she was planning to move to New York City to be with Riley and then have a "wedding and then some babies."
When Maurissa accepted a pear-shaped diamond engagement ring from Riley on the beach in Mexico in Summer 2021, the pair became the franchise's first-ever Black couple to get engaged.
Riley and Maurissa fell head over heels in love with each other in Paradise, but Riley was still a little unsure as to whether he was going to pop the question after the pair's overnight Fantasy Suite date.
Riley assured People last year that it "was never a thought" to leave the resort alone but he had to take a moment or two to reflect on the idea of potentially making Maurissa his fiancee.
"[I thought to myself], 'This is everything that you've ever wanted -- having a fiancee and being able to start a family.' I knew where I was already leaning towards," Riley explained at the time.
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Riley proceeded to call himself the "luckiest" man in the world to have Maurissa by his side.
Prior to appearing on Bachelor in Paradise, Riley competed on Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams' edition of The Bachelorette in 2020.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
