Josh Murray initially took the high road when it came to addressing ex-fiancee and former The Bachelorette star Andi Dorfman's claims about their relationship in her memoir It's Not Okay, but he's recently taken some subtle shots at her.
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The upcoming Famously Single participant, 31, competed on the tenth season of The Bachelorette and got engaged to Dorfman in late 2014 after an eight-week whirlwind romance. They split in January 2015, which came as a shock to Bachelor nation.
While the pair kept their issues fairly silent for months, Dorfman explained her side of the story in It's Not Okay: Turning Heartbreak Into Happily Never After, which hit shelves last month.
Dorfman claimed her relationship with Murray was "the most volatile and f-cked up" one of her life. She also wrote that her ex-fiance was controlling, possessive and verbally abusive. In a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Murray insisted he hasn't read Dorfman's book and has only heard about her allegations from reporters who have asked him questions.
"How am I supposed to comment on a fictional story?" Murray told the Constitution. "It saddens me and it's unfortunate she has chosen to characterize me in such a negative way. I respect the private relationship we had those eight months. I personally choose to go through life building people up, not tearing them down. I sincerely pray for her. I only wish her nothing but the best."
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Murray argued he was absolutely himself on The Bachelorette.
"I can't speak for how she was," Murray said, implying subtly that maybe Dorfman wasn't.
However, he doesn't have regrets about appearing on the show in the first place. If anything, he just "would have asked [Andi] more in-depth personal questions" and "learned more in our off time."
While taping The Bachelorette, Dorfman had sex with runner-up Nick Viall during their overnight Fantasy-Suite date. Dorfman claims Murray threatened their romance would be "over" if it turned out she slept with Viall during filming, so the usual tough-as-nails Bachelorette lied at first. She eventually, however, came clean to her fiance right before the episode aired on TV.
Dorfman wrote in her book that Murray was "devastated, angry and hurt."
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"I apologized profusely for lying. He seemed to struggle over whether he was more upset by the fact that I had lied or that I'd had sex with another man," Dorfman wrote in her memoir.
"Several more apologies later, it became clear the issue was about my having sex with someone else. That one sexual escapade would become a power play used by my fiance to justify his mistrust in me. It would be an excuse to call me a whore. And it would eventually lead to the demise of my engagement."
Murray, however, said he no longer has a problem with Viall.
"I don't hold grudges," Murray noted. "We talked it out. I like to be friends with people."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski