The Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe has insisted she never cheated -- or even emotionally cheated -- on her ex-fiance Jason Tartick during their four-year relationship.
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Because Kaitlyn appears to be moving on from Jason after their August 2023 split with ease, many fans have accused the Season 11 The Bachelorette star of infidelity.
"There was a cheating rumor about me, that I cheated on Jason, and I was like, 'I will take any rumor about myself EXCEPT for that one,'" Kaitlyn told her guest Stassi Schroeder on the February 6 episode of the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast.
"I would not cheat! I ended up saying something. There was some Bachelor account that was claiming that I did, and I was like, 'Hey, there are a lot of nasty comments in here, but just one thing is for sure: I swear on my dogs' life -- there was no cheating! Squash that rumor right now!'"
Kaitlyn insisted there was "zero cheating that went on," and she added, "not even emotional!"
Kaitlyn and Zac's relationship first made headlines when they looked cozy and flirtatious at her New Year's Eve party in Nashville, TN.
When video footage of the pair being handsy with each other circulated on social media in January, many trolls took an opportunity to slam Kaitlyn and suspect she had been unfaithful to Jason while they were together.
Kaitlyn initially shut down the rumor when she commented on the original @BachelorNation.scoop video and wrote, "Hi! Here to say that there was never an ounce of cheating happening and I will not stand for this rumor."
She added, "Y'all are NASTY in here. Anywho. Swear on my dogs lives. No cheating went on. So we can just put that to rest. Thank you!! Happy new year everyone. Go donate some blood or somethin!"
Kaitlyn posted her cheating denial shortly after uploading a long rant via Instagram Stories about hate and backlash she had been receiving online.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWOn Monday, January 1, Kaitlyn wrote, "Some of you [are] treating me like I murdered someone. You would think by now I'd be used to the hate. I'm not. Your words hurt. Your shaming hurts."
The Season 11 The Bachelorette star went on to write, "The bullying is next level. You are allowed to have opinions and feelings, but you don't even know the truth, and your HATE should actually come with consequences. I truly worry about some of your mental health. It's not OK. It's. Not."
Kaitlyn reiterated how she "did not kill someone," and then she appeared to address her romance with Zac.
"I wish I could just share my truth and tell you my side. It's hard to bite my dang tongue sometimes," Kaitlyn wrote.
Kaitlyn has also taken heat for breaking "girl code" since she's good friends with Tayshia and the two women had also worked together when they co-hosted Season 17 and Season 18 of The Bachelorette.
"Just go on and continue to have your own little made up story in your head and believe what you want to believe. Social media la la land. Good lawwwddd," Kaitlyn concluded, before pointing out how no one knew the truth or the backstory.
Jason seemingly responded to the noise via Instagram on January 1, only hours after Kaitlyn issued her public statement denying she had ever cheated on him.
In addition to wishing his followers a Happy New Year, Jason also wrote via Instagram Stories, "Jan 2, 2024 the first official day of 2024," which pretty clearly pointed a finger at Kaitlyn's actions.
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Kaitlyn recently confessed Jason "disappointed" her with how he had handled gossip about her relationship with Zac.
"I'm a little bit disappointed. I'm going to try to not get emotional -- because I cried all day yesterday -- but it's really disappointing to me, the way that Jason's kind of leaning into the victim mentality," Kaitlyn shared on the January 4 episode of her "Off the Vine" podcast.
"I don't want to dismiss that he's hurting. I don't want to dismiss that his feelings are valid and his feelings are hurting. But I have talked to him so openly and honestly. And I am [hurting too]. We have been so transparent with each other to have respect for one another."
After Kaitlyn and Jason announced their split, Kaitlyn moved out of the Nashville home they had shared together.
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Kaitlyn vented on January 4 episode of her podcast, "I personally thought that Jason and I were in such a good space. He came over the other day and I gave him a house tour."
"I have found myself to be, like, 'I want to invite him in, I want to show him the new house,'" she recalled.
"And he was like, 'I'd love to see the house!' We speak kindly about each other, we had the best time at Chris Harrison's wedding. And so I think I get really confused."
Kaitlyn said when thinking about the situation, one word kept coming to mind.
"The word disappointment keeps coming up," Kaitlyn said. "I feel so disappointed that someone could use a false narrative, like a false-narrative accusation to garner sympathy for themselves."
The "false accusation" seemed to be fan speculation that Kaitlyn had been unfaithful to Jason with Zac.
Jason, who initially competed for Becca Kufrin's heart on The Bachelorette's fourteenth season in 2018, asked Kaitlyn out on their first date in January 2019, and their romance moved quickly.
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However, Jason and Kaitlyn -- who was engaged to her The Bachelorette 11 winner Shawn Booth before getting involved with Jason -- split last summer.
For Zac's part, he got engaged to Tayshia on The Bachelorette's sixteenth season finale in 2020.
But about one year after their engagement aired on ABC, Zac and Tayshia announced their breakup in November 2021.
The addiction specialist and New Yorker recently recalled of proposing marriage to The Bachelorette alum on "The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast" that in the moment, "it felt real" and "it felt right."
Zac insisted, "I wouldn't change anything. I don't live in regret. It's a very special moment in time and in my life regardless of what happened."
Tayshia is currently dating former Summer House star Luke Gulbranson.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
