The Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe is taking Clayton Echard's side amid criticism he gaslighted and disrespected Susie Evans during their breakup conversation on The Bachelor.
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Ever since The Bachelor aired its latest episode on Tuesday night, Clayton has faced backlash on social media for treating Susie poorly and deflecting blame onto her for the demise of their relationship.
RELATED LINK: BACHELOR SPOILERS: WHAT HAPPENS ON CLAYTON ECHARD'S 'THE BACHELOR' SEASON? WHO DOES CLAYTON PICK AND END UP WITH AS HIS WINNER?
After Susie revealed she didn't think she could move forward in the process after Clayton slept with and professed his love to both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia in the Fantasy Suites, Clayton got angry that his frontrunner wouldn't forgive him -- and he accused Susie of "invalidating" their entire relationship and not fighting for something that was real.
Susie was hoping Clayton would have shown his love for her by not being intimate with other women, but she was gravely disappointed, and their back-and-forth blame game resulted in a tense and uncomfortable goodbye.
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While most of Bachelor Nation appears to have rallied behind Susie, Kaitlyn -- who starred on Season 11 of The Bachelorette -- has a different perspective.
Kaitlyn suggested Bachelor Nation is expecting a lead to be perfect nowadays and it's not fair.
"I'm just going to speak from personal experience. I can't say 'if you're in that position' because when would you ever be in that position? But when you're in that position, you are making a life-altering decision," Kaitlyn said Tuesday via Instagram Stories.
"You genuinely fall in love with more [than one] person, so why would you not be intimate with more than one person and when you're trying to find the person to spend the rest of your life with? Why do we judge so hard on this?"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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As The Bachelor fans probably recall, Kaitlyn made headlines for having sex with Nick Viall during a date in Ireland that took place long before her overnight Fantasy Suite dates on The Bachelorette, which aired in 2015.
Kaitlyn was bullied, harassed and slut-shamed during her season and became known as a promiscuous Bachelorette, especially since she had chosen a different man at her Final Rose Ceremony, her ex-fiance Shawn Booth.
But many fans believe she paved the way for future stars of the show to be more open about their sexuality and feel less shame in expressing themselves physically.
"To me, it's just like [Clayton] is taking every relationship as far as they can go. I would even care to say that it's more heartbreaking to meet somebody's family and then break up with them than it is to be intimate with them," Kaitlyn reasoned.
"Also, take it for what it is, but it's just my opinion. The show is to find someone to spend the rest of your life with. If intimacy is important to you, that's going to be part of it."
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Kaitlyn went on to say cast members on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette should have an open dialogue about what they consider to be dealbreakers or acceptable behavior.
"That's a conversation that you should have with the Bachelor or the Bachelorette when you start to fall in love with them," Kaitlyn noted.
"So, in my opinion, these women should have had that conversation before the Fantasy Suite, like, 'Hey, this is either okay with me or it's not.' And if you've set those boundaries, then that's a much different story. But if you haven't, [then that's too bad]."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Kaitlyn proceeded to post a 2015 clip of one of her dates with Chris Soules on The Bachelor's nineteenth season. Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel paid the couple a visit and said he assumed there would be love-making going on in the Fantasy Suite.
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Jimmy asked Kaitlyn if she'd be angry at Chris for sleeping with two bachelorettes as well as herself in the Fantasy Suites.
"I don't [think so]. No," Kaitlyn replied. "I can't be! It's part of the process. You can't take out a car without test driving it."
But Kaitlyn offered some "final thoughts" on her Instagram Stories, saying how she could "totally understand" how sleeping with multiple people would hurt a woman's feelings.
"We're all different human beings with different emotions and different insecurities and different traumas and different upbringings," Kaitlyn concluded.
"But also, maybe that just goes to show how little I was in love at that point. So, I see all sides like a true Canadian."
However, after Kaitlyn watched Clayton essentially unleash on Susie, Kaitlyn admitted she may have spoken too soon.
Before Susie could quit Clayton's season, he ultimately determined that he was "done" with her and she had completely destroyed him.
"I don't even know who I'm looking at anymore... You just dropped a bombshell on me and I don't agree with -- at all -- how you went about this," Clayton shouted at Susie.
"I think it's B-S, and just, we're done. I'm done... Anything you say to me from this point [on] doesn't matter."
Clayton apologized for raising his voice, saying it was "out of character" for him, but the damage had already been done and Susie cried about how she had "ruined" the relationship and was "genuinely so sorry" for hurting Clayton and not handling the situation better.
After Clayton walked Susie out, he told the bachelorette with a sharp tongue, "Because of my faith, I believe everything happens for a reason... At some point, I'll end up finding somebody who will actually stick through it and will understand me for who I am and will fight for me as much as I fight for them."
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Clayton concluded, "I thought you were that person and you're not that person. This is how it's supposed to end, and I'm done."
Susie proceeded to cry in her final words, "Oh my God. I just thought he would've had more compassion for me in the end, to be honest. Regardless of what kind of love [we had] at this point, I just thought we would've been better at getting through that conversation kindly."
The Bachelor is set to air a two-night finale event next week on ABC.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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