The Bachelorette alum Justin Glaze has confirmed he and Susie Evans broke up and also shed some light on why they split and how they're doing now.
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Justin added, "We are doing our best to kind of protect each other and keep things private as we try to navigate what this looks like for us. It has not been easy."
But Justin pointed out to the podcast's co-host, Season 20 The Bachelor star Ben Higgins, how he and Susie "still have a ton of love" for each other.
"We are on great terms," Justin insisted. "We still talk or are in communication, and we're still prioritizing each other, ourselves, our relationship, and yeah."
Justin shared how he's "very fortunate" to have someone like Susie in his life because they're "always on the same page" about their relationship and can talk things out.
"When this [breakup] first happened, we decided, 'We're not going to make a joint post,'" Justin recalled.
"[We agreed], 'We're going to figure this out together and we're going to keep it private. I'm sure people will catch on eventually, and when we're ready to talk about it, that's what we'll do.' And we were on the same page about when we'd want to talk about it and how we'd go about navigating all of this."
The Bachelorette 17 runner-up added, "So I am very fortunate to be in the place that we are at right now."
Justin said he and The Bachelor 26 winner have been receiving endless comments about "what happened" and what went wrong on social media.
"[People say], 'What happened? You have to tell us!' And it's like, 'No, I don't. And she doesn't!'"
Justin elaborated, "I think a lot of times in public relationships, people think, 'Oh, who did something wrong?! What happened?!' And it doesn't have to be that way."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"There doesn't have to be a good guy and a bad guy," he shared. "And so, some of the comments kind of lean towards that, but I don't care. I know what's up, and Susie knows what's up -- and that's all that matters. We are good!"
But Justin said he understood there being recent confusion and concern surrounding his relationship with Susie.
"And I totally respect that. Even prior to Susie and I dating, we are always on the same page about where we're at," Justin explained.
"It's funny because you're in this public relationship, right? But I think people lose sight of the fact we still want to be private when we can. I understand that people think they're owed something because we do put our relationship on social media and stuff like that, but we are people at the end of the day, and this stuff is hard."
Justin acknowledged how his romance with Susie marked his "first time navigating a public relationship," and so he's learned a lot about himself and what he can handle.
Justin explained how comments on social media don't "really affect" him and he doesn't respond to any of them.
"People will say, 'Where is she? We miss your content together. What happened?' And I ignore them... I think I have the ability to block out -- like I don't succumb to any pressures of giving anyone anything that I don't want to give when it comes to my private life," Justin said.
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"I'm like, 'I'm trying to be!' But there's a constant reminder," Justin explained.
Justin said while he doesn't want to "degrade" anyone or speak "poorly" about their fans, he doesn't engage with the people who seem to care "THAT MUCH" about his relationship with Susie.
"There are people who will come back and have some sense and say, 'Hey, just let them handle it how they want to handle it.' I see those in the comments as well, and I'm like, 'Thank you,'" Justin said.
"It is tough having that constant reminder, but it comes with the territory and you've just got to deal with it and keep pushing."
When looking towards dating again in the future, Justin said he's not sure if he'll do anything differently in terms of navigating a public relationship.
"I mean would I [date someone publicly] again? I don't want to put limits on myself and say yes or no. You never know what the future holds, so I don't know. We'll see," Justin said.
When Ben asked Justin how he's doing in general post-split, Justin admitted, "It's really tough man."
Justin paused and sighed, and it was clear he was choking up emotionally in that moment.
"Sorry," Justin murmured, before Ben let him off the hook.
"When you're ready to answer that question, I can't wait to have you back here," Ben noted.
"I appreciate you," Justin quietly responded.
Rumors had been swirling for weeks that Justin and Susie's relationship was over, but neither person chose to set the record straight.
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"We're taking some time to figure out what's going to be best for us," Justin shared at the time.
Susie and Justin met in November 2022 and claimed for a year that their close relationship was strictly platonic as fans were constantly shipping them as a couple.
However, the pair confirmed in late January that they had begun dating, and they went Instagram official on January 24.
Susie and Justin then joined forces in their social-media influencing, posting hilarious videos and ads of each other.
But rumors Susie and Justin had split began to swirl in July because the lovebirds 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 in July.
Ben's podcast co-host, Ashley Iaconetti, fueled breakup speculation by gossiping about the status of Susie and Justin's romance on the July 19 episode of their "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.
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Ashley also brought up the alleged photo of Justin with another woman as potential evidence of her theory.
Susie and Justin had met in late 2022, and they both moved to Los Angeles about six months later.
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 and Justin even flat out denied that they were dating -- and that they had ever lived together or 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 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 risk their friendship for the sake of taking things to the next level, in case their relationship didn't work out in the long run.
Susie and Justin's flirty dynamic apparently changed from friendship to something more intimate in October 2023, and so they kept their romance under wraps for several months.
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."
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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.
Susie and the Bachelor in Paradise alum previously 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
