Blake Horstmann doesn't sound like he's totally over Becca Kufrin, but he's at least on that path following his devastating The Bachelorette breakup.
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"She's an engaged woman and I want to respect that," Blake, 28, told People. "And she's very happy and I'm grateful for that. There's no point in focusing on it when there is no future there."
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Becca broke Blake's heart during The Bachelorette's Season 14 finale, which filmed in the Maldives and aired Monday night on ABC. Becca gave her final rose to Garrett Yrigoyen instead, and he in turn proposed marriage.
"It was a big blindside," Blake confessed. "I truly thought that if it came down to me proposing, that she wouldn't say no. I thought what we had was real."
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Blake bawled his eyes out once Becca let him go, as he was dreading going through subsequent months alone and brokenhearted. It was enough to go through the pain of a breakup, but Blake was forced to do so as Becca was constantly in the public eye and The Bachelorette season was unfolding on television.
The Coors beer sales representative from Colorado admitted it was "incredibly hard" to get over the split.
"It made for some really hard days, but I had a great support system," Blake revealed. "My family was amazing. We talked through a lot of things and they were there for me."
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Blake was able to confront Becca and ask about her final decision on The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose.
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Although the Bachelorette insisted Blake had done nothing wrong in their relationship and there was no specific incident that led to her choosing Garrett, she inferred the way he deals with adversity was an issue.
"[I asked myself], 'How would we handle certain situations if something happened?'" Becca told Blake on After the Final Rose.
"And where you got more in your head at times about things, it made me worry at times how you would handle certain things down the road if someone were to get sick or something were to happen to a child, and that's when I started to question the longevity of it."
After speaking to the Bachelorette face-to-face months after they called it quits on their relationship, Blake told People, "I was able to get a little bit of closure."
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"The experience didn't scare me off the idea of finding love," he added. "If anything, I know just how capable of finding love I am."
And Blake would apparently be open to the idea of finding love on television again via The Bachelor's upcoming 23rd season.
"It would be the hardest thing I'd do," Blake said of the potential starring role. "But I know this can work and if the opportunity presented itself, it would be something I would consider!"
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski