Emily Maynard reportedly was the one to call off her engagement to ex-fiance Jef Holm because she just couldn't bare to "fake" a happy relationship any longer when things between them were truly terrible.
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While Maynard claimed she and Holm split because they're simply at different points in their lives as part of a statement, there was reportedly a lot more going on behind the scenes of The Bachelorette couple's relationship that led to Maynard's extreme frustration and Holm's reluctance to fight for their love once his fiancee broke things off, Us Weekly reported in its latest issue.
"Emily just decided that she'd had enough," an insider told Us. "Emily was extremely miserable, at her breaking point. She was like, 'I'm dying, I'm dying here.'"
Maynard, a 25-year-old single mom from Charlotte, NC, selected Holm, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Salt Lake City, UT, as her final bachelor -- and he subsequently proposed -- when The Bachelorette's eighth-season finale was filmed on May 12. The pair had presented a happy front since the finale aired on July 22, however, reports that the couple's relationship was on the rocks had swirled for a couple of months before yesterday's announcement of their breakup.
Us reported early last month that despite their ongoing problems, Maynard and Holm were choosing to remain together only "for business reasons" -- a decision they had already made before the couple allegedly got into a blowout fight in August in which Holm suspected Maynard had been cheating on him.
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Then, late last month, Kaylee Shepherd -- a 21-year-old Utah college student who claims to have dated Holm for about nine months before he left her to go film The Bachelorette "for the experience" in March -- publicly alleged Holm had recently attempted to reunite with her and told her Maynard was paying Holm, at his request, to continue faking their engagement to preserve her good-girl reputation and cover-up the fact she cheated on him.
"She was just over it. Enough was enough," a source told Us of Maynard, who apparently gave up on the deceiving charade in emotional defeat. "They get into crazy fights. She lies to him about things, and he isn't faithful. Simply put, they do not trust each other."
Added a Holm source, "[They] realized how incompatible they were."
Although Maynard and Holm were "completely different types of people," according to Us, they did apparently have one major thing in common.
"They wanted their 15 minutes of fame to last," said a Holm insider, adding that Holm all along just wanted to win Maynard as a prize and ultimately gain free media exposure for his bottled water company.
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But Maynard reportedly found many flaws in Holm while they dated, with one being his harsh criticism of her parenting skills to seven-year-old daughter Ricki.
"He would taunt her and call her a bad mom," an insider explained. "He was so mean."
Holm allegedly brought his insults to a whole new level when he flat out called Maynard "the worst mother ever." According to a source, "He was always criticizing her, but that was especially hurtful."
However, a Holm insider was quick to put the blame on Maynard -- claiming The Bachelorette star was indeed kind of a bad mother and Holm's opinions were justified.
"Jef doesn't think she makes enough time for her daughter. He actually feels sorry for Ricki," the insider told Us, adding that Holm unfortunately "has no real connection to Ricki. He doesn't feel close to her."
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In addition to Maynard's alleged frequent neglect of Ricki, Holm reportedly also had an issue with Maynard's tendency to flirt with other guys. One instance was apparently when Maynard "was being very flirty" at The Bachelor producer Cassie Lambert's wedding she attended with Holm in early August. According to a guest at the ceremony, Holm sat fuming in his car while Maynard "partied on."
"She flirts with other guys to help her ego," a Maynard friend told Us. "She gets off on it. She wants to come off as this goody-goody Southern belle, but that's not really the case."
A source close to Holm told Us the entrepreneur thought Maynard was high maintenance, needy and selfish.
"He thinks she's immature and only thinks of herself," noted the source.
But Maynard wasn't the only person in the relationship guilty of flirting, the magazine reported.
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Holm allegedly flirted with a blonde girl in Laguna Beach, CA on October 4. "He touched her hip and pulled her toward him," said an observer.
Days earlier, Holm was reportedly involved in another promiscuous incident while in San Diego when he "hooked up with a girl in a bathroom," revealed another insider.
Shepherd was also not the only ex-girlfriend Holm had contacted once engaged -- or while "faking" his engagement -- to Maynard. "He's been texting old girlfriends," a Holm pal told Us.
An additional insider insisted that Holm never remained popular amongst his ex-girlfriends. After dating Holm, the women apparently saw him in a different light. "I know a lot of girls who have dated Jef do not like him," said the insider.
If being unlikable wasn't enough, Maynard reportedly told a friend her ex-fiancee was "cruel" and "dull."
"She thinks he's boring. She actually told me, 'Jef's not Mormon, he's bore-mon,'" a source close to Maynard told Us.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski