Bachelor in Paradise star Pieper James has denied she and Brendan Morais have split and says they are still together after all -- no matter how controversial their relationship may be.
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After a bumpy ride on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season, Pieper told Us Weekly in mid-September that she and Brendan were "working through things" and "taking it day by day," but E! News reported about two weeks later the pair had reportedly split and broken up.
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"The backlash from the show was too hard on both of them," a source explained to E! News at the time.
"They decided to split and focus on themselves. Pieper thinks it's best for her to spend time reevaluating her life. She thinks this is a good lesson, but wants to move on."
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But during a Wednesday appearance on former The Bachelorette star Becca Kufrin's "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, Pieper denied the breakup report, which was also later reportedly confirmed by additional media outlets.
"That's just all they are, is rumors," Pieper, 23, confirmed.
"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 have intentionally kept their romance under wraps since 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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Bachelor in Paradise appeared to catch Brendan using Natasha Parker as a placeholder while waiting for Pieper -- whom he apparently dated for about two months "without labels" before filming began -- to arrive in Paradise this past summer.
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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.
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 had only hung out twice.
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"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. "Because obviously, this hasn't been an easy thing to go through."
Since the footage aired of Brendan betraying Natasha, he has lost more than 100,000 Instagram followers and Pieper's follower count is down about 9,000. As for Natasha, she has gained nearly 400,000 followers, Entertainment Tonight reported.
"There's a lot of flaws in seeing what played out, you know, obviously I wasn't there the whole time and I didn't see it all, so seeing it all play out [is a lot]," Pieper acknowledged.
"But we're together. It was a rumor that we broke up. 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.
Despite all the backlash, Pieper believes the drama may have strengthened her bond with Brendan.
"I think it did," Pieper said. "When you're first in a relationship with somebody, there's this really happy period where you really don't have to deal with a lot of conflict and anything like that."
She continued, "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."
In September, 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.
And Pieper -- who previously claimed, when drama was at its peak, she has no regrets -- said, however, she's "truly sorry" for hurting Natasha and anyone else through her actions.
"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, she's happy 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.
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"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.
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