The Bachelorette alum Blake Moynes has revealed why he's been rejecting Katie Thurston's attempts to talk to him now that she's dating one of her Week 2 eliminees, John Hersey.
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Over the last three months or so since his split from Katie, Blake has been trying to move on while Katie appears to be madly in love with John, a San Diego bartender whom she went Instagram official with a few weeks after she and Blake confirmed in late October they had decided to end their engagement.
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During a Thursday appearance on Season 20 The Bachelor star Ben Higgins' "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast, Blake said he's "good" right now, "in control" of his life, and focusing on himself -- although it definitely took time for him to get over the "mayhem" of his falling out with Katie.
"We talked very cordially after we announced the engagement breakup, and we were really good with that. And then, obviously, all the other stuff happened," Blake shared of the Season 17 The Bachelorette star.
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"And since then, we have not spoke. But she has reached out to me. I just have not been in the place yet to respond to it, especially at the time it was kind of all unraveling."
Blake explained how he didn't want to respond to Katie "in a place of emotion and right in the heat of things" last year when he definitely needed more time to heal and "reflect" on things.
But the 31-year-old wildlife manager confirmed "there will be a time" when he responds to Katie's outreach and he absolutely "will" at some point.
"There's no point in doing it where I'm going to speak out of emotion... She's happy. She made the decision -- although, you know, I didn't like it -- she made the best decision for her, just like I would make the best decision for me," Blake shared.
"It didn't play out the way I wanted it to, and it could have probably been handled different, but I have no time for a grudge. A grudge takes so much energy. Why do I want to have a negative energy?... It's a waste of time."
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Blake also insisted he still thinks Katie is "a good person."
"It's just things played out not in a great way. But I will get to that and I will respond to her, and we will make up, 100 percent, one day," the Canada native said.
"It's, just, not yet when it still feels kind of fresh."
Blake said he's still been confused about the start of Katie's relationship with John and so he still feels some "hurt" from that relationship and may not feel totally at peace until he "asks a couple questions and clarify a couple of things."
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"Until then, it will fester a little bit," Blake admitted. "But the majority of that pain is gone and I can live happily day to day. I am good. But there will always be a little piece that won't heal until I have that wrap-up conversation with her."
Blake reiterated how that conversation "will come," but it "might just take some time to get there."
"I know it will [come] because we're both mature, we are. It'll get there, it's just not yet. And I think I should be the one to determine that just because I was on the wrong end of it."
Blake confessed that conversation with Katie is "sitting at the bottom" of his to-do list right now and isn't a priority for him.
"It's there. I know it's something that has to be done. So it lingers, but I know it'd be better for both of us if we do [talk]. It definitely would be for me," Blake noted.
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Blake told Ben that he'll eventually "get over" the fact Katie moved on from him, and pretty quickly at that, because it made her happy.
"I think we have to be selfish... All we want in life is to be happy. We can't think about everybody else as much as we want to, but you really got to think about yourself first," Blake reasoned.
"And yes, sometimes that's gonna throw people to the wayside that you ultimately loved, cared about, all those things... It maybe could have been announced a little later and all those things in the way that she did it."
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But Blake admitted you can't put a number on how long after their split it would've been appropriate to announce her relationship with John to the world.
Blake concluded that "happiness rules all" and he's thankful to have so many supportive people in his life.
Katie accepted a marriage proposal from Blake during her The Bachelorette season finale, which aired in August 2021, but the pair announced their breakup two months later.
Blake alleged on the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast in November 2021 that Katie had emotionally cheated on him and he felt disrespected by her fast-moving romance with John.
Blake admitted that he was "flabbergasted," shocked and "speechless" to learn about Katie and John, whom the wildlife manager had believed for so long were just platonic friends.
Katie previously hinted on social media that she and Blake had been fighting too much during their six-month relationship and decided to break up due to their different communication styles.
The TikTok star and social-media influencer had also suggested that Blake was unable to make her happy and vice versa.
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But once Katie introduced John as her boyfriend, she had to deal with trolls who claimed Blake had meant very little to her and John was a "rebound."
John posted a lengthy statement on Reddit late last year claiming Katie never cheated on Blake and his relationship with the former The Bachelorette star truly started out as a friendship.
John claimed his friendship with Katie only blossomed into a romance once Blake was out of the picture and Katie opened up her heart again.
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