Former The Bachelor star Clayton Echard is being sued in Arizona family court by a hookup who claims he is the father of her unborn twins.
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The woman, a 33-year-old podcaster from Scottsdale, AZ, filed the paternity lawsuit against Clayton on August 1 alleging she became pregnant when they had a one-night stand on May 20, according to court documents obtained by The Sun and Page Six.
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According to the woman -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- Clayton then spent the next several months accusing her of lying about being pregnant, claiming they didn't have sexual intercourse, blocking her phone number, and refusing her requests that he take a paternity test.
In addition to a paternity test, the lawsuit also reportedly requests the court set up a parenting plan if the paternity test shows Clayton is the father of the unborn children.
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Clayton reportedly responded to the woman's lawsuit in a court filing three weeks later on August 21, claiming he was the one who had repeatedly requested a paternity test paid by the woman and alleging that the case is "groundless and lacking in merit" because they "never had sexual intercourse." In addition, he also requested the woman be ordered to pay his attorney's fees.
When reached by The Sun for comment, Clayton told the website, "My response is in the court documents. I'm not giving it the time of day because it's baseless. We did not have sexual intercourse."
In addition, Clayton also told The Sun he plans to sue the woman and claimed she was trying to get him to date her.
In her paternity lawsuit, the woman alleged a long series of outlandish behavior from Echard and included screenshots of numerous hostile texts and emails.
According to the lawsuit, the woman first contacted Clayton -- who became real-estate agent earlier this year -- because she was looking to buy a short-term rental property.
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"Clayton and I met for the first time and hooked up," she wrote in her filing, according to The Sun. "I hadn't been with anyone since March of 2022 after being raped and violently assaulted and was not on birth control."
"I spent the night at Clayton's apartment, then looked at the houses with him the following morning. Afterwards, he took me aside and said he wasn't ready for anything serious because The Bachelor had really destroyed his mental health."
Twelve days later, according to Page Six, the lawsuit claims the woman visited an urgent care facility and confirmed she was pregnant after two prior at-home pregnancy tests had come back positive.
She then immediately sent Clayton a copy of urgent care facility's June 1 test -- resulting in The Bachelor alum responding that he didn't believe she was pregnant and sending her a series of "erratic, illogical and threatening messages."
The messages -- screenshots of which are included in the lawsuit -- reportedly included comments such as, "I don't believe you for a second," "I legitimately hate you right now," "You have lost your mind and I hope YOU think about how terrible this is that you would subject me to this," "My hatred will only grow if you decide to put me through all of this," and "My personal hell would be having to have you be a part of my life."
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However, on June 17 the woman agreed to go back over to Clayton's apartment and urinate in front of him to take another pregnancy test he had purchased himself.
When that test also came back positive, Clayton said he no longer believed the woman wasn't pregnant but still continued to insist he could not be the father as they only had oral sex.
"I wanted you to come over to confirm what I was doubting. And it did confirm that. So, I don't see you as a liar anymore," he reportedly wrote in a message included in court filings.
However, Clayton then allegedly told the woman that even if he somehow was the father, he wanted nothing to do the child and urged her to have an abortion.
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"I would like for you to get an abortion (if you are pregnant with my child, which I still don't believe, but it doesn't really matter either way)," he allegedly wrote the woman, according to The Post.
"If you do not, that's your choice. Then, in that case, if it ends up being my child, I have decided that either you'll take 100% custody of the child, or it will be put up for adoption. I will not be raising it in any capacity."
The woman reportedly also claimed Echard then went through "periods of silence and him blocking [her phone number]" and accused her of "taking fertility drugs or weight loss pills that altered the results" and even suggested her anti-epileptic medications were the cause of the positive result.
"Clayton's behavior since [the pregnancy test] has been cold and heartless," she wrote in her lawsuit, The Sun reported.
"He has come up with bizarre scenarios where he has claimed that I only wanted to explore a relationship with him because I wasn't actually pregnant, but wanted to get pregnant with his child during that time, even though I had been very clear that I had no expectations of having sex with him if we did."
"He then said that my anti-epileptic meds made me test positive (which I quickly disproved), or maybe I was taking fertility drugs or weight loss pills that altered the results."
She allegedly "offered more than 50 times in writing" for Clayton to take a prenatal paternity test at the place of his choosing and eventually paid a $725 deposit for him to take a test on August 23, only for The Bachelor alum to eventually refuse and force her to cancel the appointment.
According to the outlets, Clayton has now agreed to take a paternity test on September 26 and the parties will be in court on September 28 for an early resolution conference.
The day before she filed her paternity lawsuit, the woman also sent a letter to the Scottsdale Police Department claiming she was concerned for her safety.
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The subject of the July 31 email, which was filed with her lawsuit and obtained by The Sun, was "Threats, intimidation, verbal abuse, endangerment and extortion from Clayton Echard."
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In the email the woman reportedly wrote: "When I told him I was pregnant, he started writing erratic, illogical and threatening messages. He has been clear that being a father has not been in his life plan and would get in the way of his dating and professional life."
It then continued: "I am very concerned about my safety and I don't know what actions Clayton will take because he is so volatile, controlling, demeaning and hateful. I have asked him on many occasions to reassure me that he will not hurt me or our unborn babies, and he will not respond to that simple question. I told him I would file a police report if he didn't."
The Sun subsequently confirmed with the Scottsdale Police Department that they have had "field contact" with the woman.
In addition, the woman's lawsuit also accused Clayton of repeatedly trying to "gaslight" her.
"He gave me the reasons why he felt that I was not the woman for him, like because he had had a dream years ago where he was at a park with his wife and she was blond," she wrote in the filing, according to The Sun.
"I'm a brunette, so it clearly wasn't me... He also said that he was attracted to ethnic women, and as a petite white girl, I was not his type... He said that having a baby would impact our individual dating lives and that he always 'swiped left on women with children.'"
"Clayton's main concern at this point is his image, and he has decided to try to convince the public that he is a changed man from who he was on The Bachelor. He is a self-centered, unchanged man whose main goal is to get on Dancing with the Stars. He even threatened to sue me if I went public and that meant that he was not invited on the show."
Clayton starred on Season 26 of The Bachelor, which was filming in late 2021 and aired on ABC in early 2022.
Clayton picked Susie Evans as his final bachelorette, however Susie rejected Clayton when the season's Final Rose Ceremony was filmed in November 2021, saying she didn't think he was her "person" after having learned he had slept with both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.
Clayton and Susie then reunited after filming ended and were dating when The Bachelor season's After the Final Rose special aired on ABC in March 2022, but announced their split about six months later in September 2022.
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