The Bachelor alum Susie Evans has addressed rumors her relationship with The Bachelorette alum Justin Glaze has ended.

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Susie, 30, admitted her relationship status with Justin, 30, is "complicated" during an interview with People at the 73rd Annual Miss USA Pageant in Los Angeles, CA, on August 4.

"[Justin and I] started out as friends, so what's most important for us was that we just respect each other, love each other through whatever our relationship became, which is something we decided even before we ever dated was friendship first," Susie explained to the magazine.

"We think so highly of each other, we respect each other. So that is the forefront of everything."

Susie acknowledged how transitioning from best friends to lovers was "so complicated" with Justin.

"I feel like in all of my past relationships, except for times when people have done something horrible to you, it's so hard because you want to be friends but, obviously, you love that person," Susie explained.

Susie admitted she has intentionally played coy about her relationship with Justin lately.

"At some point, it's important to set boundaries for yourself, for your partner, for your relationship," Susie explained.

She added, "I think we've just kind of been keeping things more private, obviously more private than usual while we figure things out for ourselves, either individually or together."

Rumors Susie and Justin had split began to swirl last month because Justin and Susie were noticeably posting less couple's content on social media.

Susie's last post with Justin was on July 1, and it was only an ad.

The Instagram account, @Deux Moi, also posted a photo that allegedly showed Justin walking with another girl in Chicago last month.

And Ashley Iaconetti fueled breakup speculation by gossiping about the status of Susie and Justin's romance on her "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" that she co-hosts with Ben Higgins.

Susie told People that she "totally" understood why Ashley was talking about her.

"I feel like our careers, people are going to have questions. I totally get it. And their podcast topic is kind of like hot topics in Bachelor Nation, so I totally get them speculating," Susie noted.

"It's really confusing because Justin and I haven't said anything publicly. So that's just something I think is bound to happen when you're in a public relationship."

On the Friday, July 19 episode of the "Almost Famous" podcast, Ashley acknowledged how Susie and Justin were "all of a sudden" being "kind of quiet on social media."

Ashley noted, "All they've posted together has been ads," and she wondered if the recent ads were "prior obligations" they had filmed "in advance."

"You know, the post date is later in the relationship or maybe they signed contracts saying that they would do the ads together," Ashley explained.

"We don't really know for sure, but we know that they haven't been in any real organic content together lately."

Ashley also brought up the alleged photo of Justin with another woman as potential evidence of her theory.

Susie and Justin confirmed in late January that they had begun dating following months of speculation about whether they were more than friends. (Many fans had been shipping the pair in 2023, but Susie and Justin insisted multiple times their relationship was strictly platonic.)

Susie and Justin went Instagram official in a joint Instagram post on January 24.

"Okay fine... y'all were right," Susie and Justin captioned a carousel of sweet photos as well as a video of them together.

But Susie and Justin -- who had met in November 2022 and both moved to Los Angeles about six months later -- kept their relationship under wraps for about three months.

In November 2023, Susie joked during an Instagram Q&A session how she was "trying" to move out of the friend zone with Justin after a summer romance she had fizzled out.

Susie clarified she and Justin were never roommates, and the pair also happened to best friends with The Bachelor alum Andrew Spencer at the time.

Susie and Justin even flat out denied that they were dating -- and that they had ever hooked up -- during a December interview on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, which is co-hosted by Bachelor in Paradise couple Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.

Susie and Justin were very especially playful and flirty during their interview, and they even seemed to hint that they were considering taking their dynamic out of the friend zone. But the pair claimed they didn't want to put their friendship at risk for a romance that may not work out in the long run.

Susie and Justin's flirty dynamic apparently changed from friendship to something more intimate in October 2023.

The couple even spent the holidays together, having their "own little hometown" date. Justin said he met Susie's family in Virginia and she met his family in Maryland.

Justin explained to E! News of their dishonesty earlier this year, "We've always wanted to just kind of protect our privacy, which sounds funny to say because we went on the show where our romantic connections are far from private."

Justin elaborated, "But we wanted to just protect our peace, and control our narrative and not put any pressure on our relationship."

The reality TV stars became friends after Susie won Clayton Echard's heart on The Bachelor's 26th season but they split in September 2022. Justin, for his part, competed for Katie Thurston on The Bachelorette's seventeenth season.

Justin also appeared on Bachelor in Paradise's eighth season in 2022.

While Justin had sparked a connection with Eliza Isichei, it didn't work out because she ultimately gave her rose to Rodney Mathews. When Eliza determined she had made a mistake and wanted Justin back, it was too late and he wasn't interested in reconciling.

"Justin dated people, I dated people," Susie shared of the couple's initial dynamic. "So the narrative of us being truly just friends was true."

Susie and the Bachelor in Paradise alum gushed to E! News about how they had a "natural, fun chemistry" and always had a blast together.

But Susie explained how their relationship went much deeper than that, mainly because Justin provided her with unconditional acceptance and support.

"If I'm dealing with something, I just deal with it myself, and I don't know if I've ever felt like I could rely on someone to be there the way I can rely on Justin," Susie explained.

"It actually makes me kind of emotional talking about it because I feel like there have been so many things where he's just shown such good character when I've really needed somebody.... He's really shown up and been so supportive, and I've never had someone be there for me like that."

Susie added, "I have a great family, but like a partner, I've never had somebody show up the way he has."

Justin also praised Susie for being compassionate, patient and extremely loving.

"She's always just so understanding and kind, and she's a huge empath," Justin said.

"She's kind of taught me how to step back, and just communicate, and slow things down, and see things from a totally different angle, which is something that I probably needed."

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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