The Bachelor alum Demi Burnett insists people don't know the real reasons why Maurissa Gunn and Riley Christian broke up and appears to have suggested Riley may have been at fault for the split.
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The former couple revealed in a statement at the time how they had split because they wanted to work on themselves.
"Y'all got the Maurissa and Riley break up SO WRONG," Demi, 26, recently tweeted.
When Demi spoke up about Maurissa and Riley's split, she faced backlash for talking about someone else's relationship in order to get attention and make headlines.
However, Demi said she's just trying to relay the truth about why Maurissa and Riley decided to end their engagement.
"I'm mad at the BS being portrayed!" Demi wrote on Twitter earlier this month.
"I don't want to talk about it bc it's stressful and not my business to tell! BUT LOOK DEEPER LISTEN TO UR INTUITION."
Neither Maurissa or Riley responded to Demi's tweets, but Maurissa noticeably "liked" both of them!
Before Maurissa and Riley's split was publicly announced, Maurissa sparked breakup rumors when she began slowly removing photos of the New York-based attorney from her Instagram account, seemingly taking jabs at her ex-fiance.
Maurissa also shared a video without her engagement ring and a cryptic quote that read, "All that glitters is not gold," which suggested Riley may not have been all that he was cracked up to be.
Maurissa then shared one of Demi's Instagram posts that read, "Remember be good to women because even if you aren't a misogynistic person they might be living in a world where they are oppressed every day so maybe go out of your way to make sure she knows she's being treated with respect."
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While Maurissa and Riley have yet to make any official comments on their split, The Bachelor alum Natasha Parker offered some insight on the breakup given she's very close friends with Maurissa and the girls had appeared on Bachelor in Paradise 7 together last year.
"[Maurissa] was just saying how there was so much that happened between them that they kind of just wanted to keep it between each other, which I totally get," Natasha, 33, said during the January 27 episode of her "Click Bait With Bachelor Nation" podcast.
Natasha, however, suggested Maurissa had sacrificed a lot in order to be with Riley and so Maurissa was struggling in the relationship.
"I think that they just have very different lives, at least from my understanding of what she was saying," Natasha shared.
"She completely integrated into his life and I think that she kind of missed her family, she missed her friends."
Maurissa, originally from a small town in Montana -- where her family still lives -- moved from Atlanta to New York to be with Riley after the show aired last year.
Natasha noted how moving to New York "is not easy," adding, "It's a hard city, and if you're not used to it, [it's tough]."
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Natasha's podcast co-host Joe Amabile and his fiancee, Serena Pitt, for example, are still trying to decide where they'd like to settle down together.
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"But [Maurissa] went full throttle. She put her all in and it didn't work out. She told me she has no regrets, and I think that's a beautiful thing," Natasha noted.
She added, "[Maurissa] did clarify they broke up a little while ago. The reason why they took so long to say something officially is because they wanted to both be sure that they wanted to go their separate ways."
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When Maurissa and Riley confirmed their breakup to People earlier this year, they said, "We have decided to go our separate ways. Never did we imagine this, but we've come to a point where we both need to work on ourselves."
"We've appreciated everyone's love and support so far throughout our journey," they continued, "and we just ask that you please respect our privacy as we navigate through this."
But rumors about their relationship status had been swirling for weeks prior.
Riley and Maurissa, who fell in love and got engaged on Bachelor in Paradise 7 in Summer 2021, were anything but shy when it came to posting adorable photos of each other and gushing about their feelings on Instagram once they had moved their romance into the real world.
The couple celebrated Christmas together in December and subsequently uploaded images of them posing in front of the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
Maurissa sweetly wrote late last year, "All I want for Christmas is you," before deleting the photo with Riley on her Instagram.
Additional signs pointing to a breakup fans noticed prior to Riley and Maurissa's split announcement was when Maurissa posted photos of herself making funny faces on January 7 and captioned the slideshow, "Don't worry, be happy."
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Maurissa also received chocolate-covered fruit from her friend Martha, whom she considers a sister, amid the breakup rumors, Us Weekly previously reported.
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Maurissa replied on January 7, "Don't know what I would do without you sister."
For Riley's part, he uploaded a video of himself working out in early January with a cryptic caption about getting "knocked down," which may have been a reference to a rocky romance with Maurissa.
"We ain't come this far just to come this far. Work hard, stay humble, but still let 'em know that you got it. No matter how many times we get knocked down we get back up. Giving it everything we got all 2022," Riley wrote at the time.
Riley also tweeted, "Try not be stagnant when facing obstacles that are beyond your control. Just do what you can. That way, when things finally do fall into place, you'll be able to hit the ground running."
While Maurissa wiped most of her Riley photos from Instagram nearly a month ago, Riley chose to keep most of his pictures with Maurissa on his account -- until People confirmed their split in late January.
There is currently no sign of Maurissa on Riley's Instagram page, and so it appears the former couple doesn't want to be reminded of memories they had shared together.
Back in October 2021, Maurissa told People that she was planning to move to New York City to be with Riley and then have a "wedding and then some babies."
When Maurissa accepted a pear-shaped diamond engagement ring from Riley on the beach in Mexico in Summer 2021, the pair became the franchise's first-ever Black couple to get engaged.
Riley and Maurissa fell head over heels in love with each other in Paradise, but Riley was still a little unsure as to whether he was going to pop the question after the pair's overnight Fantasy Suite date.
Riley assured People last year that it "was never a thought" to leave the resort alone but he had to take a moment or two to reflect on the idea of potentially making Maurissa his fiancee.
"[I thought to myself], 'This is everything that you've ever wanted -- having a fiancee and being able to start a family.' I knew where I was already leaning towards," Riley explained at the time.
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Riley proceeded to call himself the "luckiest" man in the world to have Maurissa by his side.
Prior to appearing on Bachelor in Paradise, Maurissa competed on Season 24 of The Bachelor starring Peter Weber and Riley competed on Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams' edition of The Bachelorette in 2020.
As for Demi, she has appeared on Bachelor in Paradise multiple times and found fame when she competed for Colton Underwood's heart on The Bachelor's 23rd season.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
