The Bachelor star Clayton Echard has explained why he slept with Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia and told them both he loved them in Fantasy Suites when he already knew he was the "most in love" with Susie Evans.

ADVERTISEMENT

Clayton said he starting falling in love with all of his Final 4 women -- Susie, Gabby, Rachel and his fourth-place finisher Serene Russell -- during hometown dates but also realized during that time that he was "the most" in love with Susie because things had gone "so great" with her family.

RELATED LINK: BACHELOR SPOILERS: HOW DOES CLAYTON ECHARD'S 'THE BACHELOR' SEASON END? WHO DOES CLAYTON PICK AND END UP WITH AS HIS WINNER?

As shown on Tuesday night's episode of The Bachelor's 26th season, Clayton had sex and expressed he was in love with both Gabby and Rachel during his overnight Fantasy-Suite dates with them in Iceland.

Once Clayton came clean about his actions to Susie during his third date of the week, Susie -- wanting to be Clayton's one and only in order to feel good about possibly accepting a marriage proposal in one week -- expressed how she couldn't see herself moving forward in the process, which devastated Clayton and led to their split.

Clayton attempted to explain his choices to Ashley Iaconetti and Ben Higgins during a March 9 appearance on their "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast."

For starters, Clayton said he thought going into Fantasy Suites that "dealbreakers can come up" which could ultimately change his mind about his frontrunner.

"[I thought], 'We may not have any physical intimacy. And if [our breakup] wouldn't have happened and [Susie and I] went into Fantasy Suites and we were intimate and we had no compatibility sexually, then that would have shifted [the game]," Clayton revealed.

"I would have now been potentially interested and more in love with one of the other two women because physical intimacy is such a critical part of a relationship."

Clayton confessed, "I cannot get engaged to somebody if there's no sexual chemistry. It's just me. Maybe that's not how everybody else is, but for me, that's so critical. If I'm going to get engaged, that has to be there."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Clayton also explained how he tried to compartmentalize each relationship and be in the moment with each woman.

"When I was just [one woman], that's all I saw, because I thought that was the right way to approach it," he said.

"[I thought], 'If you want to give this a fair shot, then when you're with this woman, you're only with her and there are no other women. You want to pour into that person 100 percent.'"

Clayton said he fully embraced The Bachelor process and "essentially believed in [it]."

"I stepped in as the Bachelor and said, 'Okay, I'm going to date 30 women and this will be acceptable'... You could never do that in the real world, it's not feasible," Clayton told Ben and Ashley.

Clayton therefore admitted how he came to the conclusion things just "work differently" on The Bachelor and so he thought he had "a little bit of leeway" when it came to being affectionate or intimate with more than one woman.

"It's not real-world applicable," he noted. "Because of that, I started to adapt to the environment and I started to say, 'Well, okay, I'm assuming that these women understand how Fantasy Suites go. I'm assuming they understand I might fall in love with multiple women.'"

But Ben, who starred on The Bachelor's 20th season and told two women that he loved them, asked Clayton why he thought it was a good idea to intentionally profess his love to all three women in the Fantasy Suites, knowing the choice would have major repercussions down the line.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  

"I didn't think it was a good idea because you don't want to tell multiple women that you're in love with them. I mean, just look at it from the standpoint of I told a woman that I love that I'm 'the most' in love with you, implying I was in love with other women," Clayton explained.

"In what sense would you move forward and get engaged to somebody three days later if you're saying, 'Hey, I'm in love with you but I'm also in love with other women?' It doesn't make sense and now I see it. It does not make sense, but I made it make sense in that moment."

But Clayton said he "made it make sense" while filming the show's 26th season.

"I had to let it make sense because, again, if Susie and I didn't have any physical intimacy, no compatibility, then I'd say, 'Okay, well that's no longer. We're not gonna work out, so now I need to focus on these other two relationships and who I feel most compatible with.'"

Clayton said if he would've withheld those emotions, which he initially did during hometown dates, he feared the women would question their relationships or maybe even shut down on him with doubts and insecurities.

"When am I going to tell them? Am I just going to wait until the final week before an engagement and tell someone right there, 'Hey, I'm in love with you?' I think... they need to know you're in love with them before you get engaged. You tell them right then and there or the day of," Clayton shared.

"I don't know, what is the right time to tell somebody on the show, when you're falling in love with them? And I know people say, 'Okay, you should've just told one person,' but I was in love with multiple women! So I felt like I should tell them all at the same time, after hometowns."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

Clayton concluded, "I thought, 'This is where you're at and so you need to let these women know as soon as possible.'"

And Clayton said seeing the women's reactions was "exciting" to him because he could see they were happy and joy was written all over their faces.

"They finally knew where this guy stands, and I was so happy in that moment to have opened up to them. I thought, 'This is great, and now they're not going to put their walls up. We are fully in. I know where they stand and they know where I stand,'" Clayton reasoned.

"It felt right... [until] it hit me just like a brick wall when I realized, 'You're in trouble. You're not in a good spot right now... Someone is going to get hurt,'" he added.

Even though Clayton broke down over the idea of eventually hurting two women, he said he had to tell Susie that he loved her as well because he felt he owed her his truth.

"Even though I knew it wasn't a good spot to be in... I felt I should tell Susie. It's screwed up, it's messed up that I'm in love with multiple women, but I was the most in love with her," Clayton explained.

"So I'm not going to hold back on telling her now just because I told the other two women. I have to approach this as, 'When I'm with them, I'm with them,' and I can't allow what I've said or done in another relationship to impact how I treat [Susie or another]."

Clayton hoped that if he didn't hold back, maybe the women would come to understand that his "heart was in the right place" and he was just in "a really unique, once-in-a-lifetime spot." He hoped his winner would be able to sympathize with that and forgive him.

A preview for next week's two-night finale of The Bachelor shows Clayton saying he's "broken" after Susie's departure.

Clayton also tells Rachel and Gabby that he was in love and had been intimate with the both of them in Fantasy Suites, which results in the women storming off and bawling their eyes out.

Even Clayton's own father, Brian, tells the Bachelor that he "screwed the pooch" in this situation.

"I wish I never would've fallen in love," Clayton admits to his parents in tears.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS