The Bachelorette alum Jason Tartick has revealed if he's still in love with ex-fiancee Kaitlyn Bristowe and whether he's begun dating again since their split.
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Not only did they live together in Nashville, but they had adopted two dogs together.
Jason has said repeatedly since the split that he's an emotional wreck who breaks down crying all the time, and so former The Bachelor franchise host Chris Harrison asked Jason if he's still in love with Kaitlyn during the December 8 episode of "The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever."
Jason hesitated and replied, "I have a ton of love for Kaitlyn. Yeah, I have a ton of love for Kaitlyn."
"I think what's so hard is that when we broke up," The Bachelorette 14 alum continued, "I was still so in love with her."
Jason was choking back tears and lamented, "Ugh, god."
When trying to compose himself, he said, "I have a ton of love for her. She is very special and unique, as everyone knows. And so yeah, I have a ton of love for Kaitlyn."
Jason confirmed that he's still grieving the loss of his fiancee, even though he experiences moments when he thinks his heart has healed and he's bounced back.
But Jason said the idea of jumping into another relationship is "extremely unhealthy" for him because there is a reason why he and Kaitlyn broke up.
"Exploring that within yourself and growing from that takes... time," Jason shared.
Jason told Chris that he has, in fact, gone on a few dates, but he mentioned how none of those dates were serious enough to mention or talk about.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"I'm open to going on a date. I am just, like, there's a lot going on between the ears. And if I went on a date, I'd be very open about that. Warning: a lot of baggage!" Jason joked.
Jason and the Season 11 The Bachelorette star bumped into each other at Chris and Lauren Zima's wedding last month. It was the pair's first in-person reunion since Jason had moved out of their shared Nashville home, and it was -- based on witness accounts -- a fun and amicable event for the former couple.
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When Kaitlyn and Jason made their breakup public knowledge in August, they already appeared to be on good terms. But Jason admitted later that month that he was having "emotional swings."
And during the September 19 episode of the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast, Kaitlyn took a shot at Jason by claiming he "didn't protect" her from online hate and scrutiny after they parted ways.
The former The Bachelorette star said she "knew" she was going to get most of the hate from fans for ending her engagement to Jason after four years together.
"It was already my fault when we weren't posting enough and people were questioning everything. It was always like, 'God, you're ruining another good thing! This is what you do!'" Kaitlyn recalled.
"We talked about protecting each other through it because, of course, when you go through breakups you want to have your side and someone to have their side," she elaborated. "You want to justify it and say all these things, but we really agreed on protecting each other."
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In that Instagram video, Jason had a friend helping him move, and the former banker from Seattle noted how the process "physically and mentally" sucked. He also shared footage of Ramen and Pinot looking sad while he put his belongings into a moving truck.
"I was like, 'Bro!'" Kaitlyn vented with a laugh. "He pulled at heartstrings and it didn't protect me because it made me look like I was taking the dogs away from him."
Kaitlyn said that she ultimately confronted Jason about the post.
"The messages that I got after that were just [awful]. And he was like, 'Well, I didn't get one message about it.' And I was like, 'I did!'" Kaitlyn explained.
"And it just made me really sad because the dogs are literally our No. 1 priority through this. We are both obsessed with them, and we have made it very clear that we're going to be sharing them."
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Jason moved "down the street" from Kaitlyn in Nashville, temporarily, after their split. And at that time, he began scoping out the real estate market.
Kaitlyn recently revealed that she and Jason had failed to prioritize their relationship and that they weren't "choosing" each other on a daily basis.
Kaitlyn insisted no one was at fault or is to blame for the demise of their relationship, but she said social media -- and outside pressures to put on "a performative show" for their fans -- definitely "played a part" in their breakup. That's why she decided to take a hiatus from posting content for about two weeks.
Fans assumed Kaitlyn and Jason's romance was on the rocks when they weren't making any progress in terms of wedding planning.
Breakup rumors then began to swirl in July because Kaitlyn and Jason hadn't posted anything about each other on Instagram for about a month.
And when Instagram users flooded Kaitlyn and Jason's comments with questions and concerns about the status of their relationship, neither Kaitlyn or Jason responded.
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"I cannot believe the audacity of people to expect things from me when I haven't even been able to process things for myself," Kaitlyn wrote, according to Us Weekly.
Needing to "process things" seemed to suggest she and Jason had split up and called off their engagement.
The Dancing with the Stars 29 winner continued in her since-deleted post, "Have a f-cking heart. You're scaring me with your comments and demands. I'm almost worried about YOU."
While Kaitlyn and Jason breakup rumors were circulating, Kaitlyn's first fiance, her The Bachelorette 11 winner Shawn Booth, announced he's going to be a dad with a woman named Audrey "Dre" Joseph, who had taken professional and promotional photos of him and is a member at his gym.
Kaitlyn and Shawn were together for about three years and announced their split in November 2018.
Jason asked Kaitlyn out on their first date in January 2019, and their romance moved quickly.
Jason moved from his place in Washington to live with Kaitlyn in Nashville in June 2019, and then the couple adopted their two dogs together and got engaged in Spring 2021.
In June 2022, Kaitlyn told Us that she and Jason planned to start trying for a baby right after their wedding. (But now that Kaitlyn and Jason are over, she confessed that she's "terrified" to have kids).
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
