Bachelor in Paradise couple Pieper James and Brendan Morais have revealed that they've taken the next step in their relationship.
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But Pieper, a 25-year-old Oregon native, has claimed their living arrangement isn't permanent.
"We're both planning our next move, so I would say [it's] for now," Pieper told Us Weekly in a joint interview with Brendan on Thursday.
"We travel so much, so it's been, like, a month-and-a-half of us being there for four days at a time."
Brendan, 32, shared how he's "really, really happy" with how the couple's relationship is blossoming, and he confirmed there is definitely potential for them to get engaged in the near future.
"I wouldn't be dating her if she wasn't a person I could envision marrying at some point in my life, sooner than later," Brendan told the magazine.
"But we're very pleased with where we're at right now and just enjoying each other, enjoying traveling and the journey that is dating, and we'll see what happens."
Pieper noted how she and her boyfriend have "always done things" the way they want.
"We didn't get engaged on the show, which was probably a blessing because we [don't] have to rush to marriage or anything like that," Pieper said. "It's kind of, 'Let's take things at our own speed.'"
And the pair's road to an engagement apparently includes couples' therapy.
"We just had our first session today," Pieper revealed.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW"I'm a big proponent of therapy, so I feel like our relationship is great, and this is just the thing to take it to the next level, especially when you are talking about marrying somebody in the future."
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After a bumpy ride on Bachelor in Paradise, Pieper told Us in September 2021 that she and Brendan were "working through things" and "taking it day by day."
E! News reported about two weeks later the pair had reportedly split in order to focus on themselves and quiet public backlash, but during an October 2021 appearance on The Bachelorette alum Becca Kufrin's "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, Pieper denied the breakup report and set the record straight.
"That's just all they are, is rumors," Pieper said at the time.
"I mean, I can understand [with] Brendan unfollowing me [on Instagram] and that kind of thing why people maybe came to the conclusion that we split. But we're still together."
Pieper said she and Brendan intentionally kept their romance under wraps after leaving Paradise together.
"The reason we didn't choose to go public [with our post-show romance] like everybody else on the show was just because, obviously, our experience was a little bit different. We tainted our own experience in that way," Pieper explained.
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Brendan, while covering his microphone on the beach, admitted to "incriminating" himself by essentially admitting to Pieper he had downplayed their pre-Paradise romance to other cast members and had to do "certain things" in the process to ensure they could reunite on the beach in Mexico.
Pieper and Brendan were also taped talking about their influencer status and the number of social-media followers they had prior to the show.
Natasha, who developed strong feelings for Brendan along the way, called the bachelor "a liar" and "manipulative" clout-chaser considering Brendan had insisted he and Pieper just had a "super casual" fling back home and only hung out twice before the show.
"So we are kind of working on ourselves and each other, and we're focusing on being a couple before taking that public," Pieper continued on the podcast last year. "Because obviously, this hasn't been an easy thing to go through."
Once the footage aired of Brendan betraying Natasha, he lost more than 100,000 Instagram followers and Pieper's follower count dropped about 9,000. As for Natasha, she gained nearly 400,000 followers, Entertainment Tonight reported.
"There's a lot of flaws in seeing what played out... Seeing it all play out [is a lot]," Pieper acknowledged. "But we're together... That's where we stand right now."
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Several Bachelor in Paradise 7 cast members, including Demi Burnett, told Brendan and Pieper to leave the show if they had any "dignity" left, which resulted in Brendan complaining his co-stars were making "a pathetic attempt to intimidate" him.
But since they were not wanted on the beach and the environment had become toxic, Brendan and Pieper left the beach on their own terms and said they'd continue their relationship at home.
Pieper told Becca on her podcast last year that all the Paradise drama actually strengthened the bond she has with Brendan.
"We were dealing with conflict kind of with each other but also from an outside perspective. It did make us stronger [because] right away, we knew how we both communicated in arguments... and how we dealt with, like, exterior bad things," she said.
In September 2021, Brendan released a lengthy seven-minute video apology on his Instagram account and was adamant about the fact he and Pieper had never been in an exclusive relationship prior to Paradise.
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"I'm not saying it was, like, peaches and rainbows the whole time," Pieper noted of her Brendan relationship.
"But it was good to kind of have that feedback and know down the line if something comes up how we both deal with those things."
Pieper said although she had essentially robbed herself of a genuine Paradise experience dating and getting to know multiple men, she's pleased with her choices and the outcome overall.
"At the end of the day, I'm happy with my decision. I'm happy with Brendan, as controversial as that might be to say," Pieper told Becca.
"I just kind of did what I always do and followed my gut and my heart and connected the dots. That's the experience I got."
After Brendan and Pieper left the show, three couples got engaged on Bachelor in Paradise's Season 7 finale: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt, Kenny Braasch and Mari Pepin-Solis, and Maurissa Gunn and Riley Christian.
Maurissa and Riley have since split.
Prior to appearing on Bachelor in Paradise, Pieper competed for Matt James' heart on The Bachelor's 25th season earlier this year, and Brendan competed for both Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams on The Bachelorette's sixteenth season last year.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
