The Bachelor alum Colton Underwood has revealed the current status of his relationship with Cassie Randolph after their public feud and is claiming the anger he felt was actually directed towards The Bachelor franchise for allegedly taking advantage of his ex-girlfriend.
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"I have nothing but good things and love and well-wishes and friendship with Cassie right now. I love the girl and miss the girl dearly," Colton, 28, said during a Thursday appearance on spoiler blogger Steve Carbone's "Reality Steve" podcast on Thursday, according to Us Weekly.
"She's amazing," he added.
When Colton and Cassie announced their breakup in May, the pair had apparently agreed to remain friends and keep their breakup private, but the peace didn't last long.
The pair's split got ugly after Cassie conducted a July 6 interview with The Bachelor host Chris Harrison on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons -- Ever!.
"Cass stayed extremely professional and extremely quiet about our breakup, which I was so happy and thankful for," Colton noted on the podcast.
"I even texted her and was like, 'Man I appreciate that, thank you.'"
But after The Bachelor special aired on ABC last month, Colton appeared to slam Cassie in a passive-aggressive manner.
"When our relationship ended we agreed to handle things as privately as possible as we attempted to navigate our new relationship as friends," Colton wrote on Instagram three days after Cassie's interview aired, although Cassie declined to reveal any specific details regarding her split from Colton.
"I chose to do that since we were living in this interim period, but obviously a lot changed this week."
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Cassie therefore fired back on social media with some insulting allegations against the former pro football player, including that Colton allegedly intended to "monetize" their breakup by writing about it for a new chapter in his memoir, The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV, without allowing her to see the content first.
Cassie suggested Colton was being an unfair hypocrite and publicly asked him to refrain from "prolonging our breakup or dragging me" when it's "unwarranted." (Colton's representative told Us on July 10 that Cassie's "accusations are simply not true.")
And Colton insisted on Carbone's podcast his initial Instagram post wasn't directed at his ex, but rather The Bachelor franchise.
Colton claimed The Bachelor producers told Cassie the interview would be an opportunity for the world to get to know her but then the special only aired footage of Cassie talking about her split from Colton, which was apparently a topic Cassie had wanted to avoid altogether.
"What bugged me was the fact that that show took advantage of her. I feel very defensive over people I love," Colton explained.
"I know Cassie's a big girl and can fight her own battles, but I know her heart -- she doesn't want to rock the boat and she loves people even if they abuse her or even if they take advantage of her, which is what they did."
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Cassie previously said she had only agreed to appear on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons -- Ever! under the impression she wouldn't have to speak on her May 2020 split from Colton at all.
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"So I'm a little irritated about a few things right now. Just watched The Bachelor interview that aired and I feel like I'm speaking to no one," Cassie complained.
"There was so much more that I talked about in that interview than just our relationship... Believe it or not, there's so much more to me than just my past relationship, and I think that's why I'm annoyed."
Colton also revealed he and Cassie have actually spoken since their Instagram feud.
"Maybe eventually we'll address it together. It should have been handled privately and we did handle it privately and sort of left it at that," Colton shared, adding that he did in fact write an extra chapter for his book.
"As far as what the book was and is, the chapter is done. I wrote the chapter and she saw it and was okay with it and we made changes. I say 'we.' I know it's my book but like, there was more than just the breakup that was going to go into the book, the extra chapter."
The new chapter will apparently focus on his battle with coronavirus as well as his breakup with Cassie. A paperback edition of his memoir will be released in January 2021 with the new content included.
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"I wanted to share that in the book of how I navigated that. It wasn't a chapter just about the breakup or just to get back at anybody," Colton explained.
"The chapter is part our breakup and part me having COVID. We go into the details that we're comfortable sharing in that chapter and we both went over it together... Honestly, I think her being a part of it made it even better."
Colton also teased earlier this week he'll be returning to reality TV "sooner rather than later," according to Us.
Colton got his start on The Bachelor franchise when he competed for Becca Kufrin's heart on The Bachelorette's fourteenth season in 2018 and finished in fourth place.
Colton subsequently appeared on Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise, when he tried to revive a romance with Tia Booth, but he ultimately found love with Cassie on The Bachelor's 23rd season last year.
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"happily single."
In terms of why Colton and Cassie split, Cassie reportedly initiated the conversation and a source told E! News in early June, "Cassie was just not as ready for the settled-down life Colton wants right now and she tried to end it a few times."
A People insider shared a similar explanation for what went wrong, saying Cassie wasn't ready to get married and the pair had essentially just become friends.
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Prior to their surprising decision to part ways, Colton had publicly discussed wanting to propose marriage to Cassie in the near future.
"We have decided we're not moving in together until we're married. So we have something to look forward to in that step," Colton said on the March 31 episode of Us's "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast, adding that Cassie has been extremely busy with work and school.
"She still has her internship and some time to put into that and it takes a lot of work for her to do that and takes a lot of her energy and focus. I can't imagine having to plan for a wedding and we still don't want a long engagement. So we want to make sure that timing-wise it's all right."
When Colton starred on The Bachelor, his season ended prematurely when he fell in love with and selected Cassie over his other two remaining bachelorettes, Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin.
Colton had made up his mind before even finishing out his round of overnight Fantasy Suite dates.
However, Cassie attempted to quit The Bachelor at that stage in the process because she didn't feel ready to get engaged after dating Colton for such a short period of time.
Colton nearly ended production because he was so devastated, but he fought for Cassie to stay and ultimately convinced her to give him another chance.
Cassie was hesitant to continue but decided to stick around for Colton now that pressure of an engagement was off the table, and she proceeded to meet his family on the show and fall in love with him once filming wrapped.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
