The Bachelorette alum Nayte Olukoya has denied cheating on Michelle Young as fans continue to speculate what went wrong in their relationship and led to their split.
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Nearly one week after Michelle and Nayte announced their decision to end their engagement, Nayte took to Instagram to address allegations he may have been unfaithful to the Season 18 The Bachelorette star.
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"No, I didn't cheat," Nayte, 27, wrote via Instagram Stories on Saturday, June 25, according to Us Weekly.
"Not every breakup needs to have someone to blame. Yes, many of you seem to paint me as a red flag/ f-ck boy... But I'm actually a decent guy, and I only want to continue getting better. As we should all want for ourselves."
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Nayte admitted the "blatant hate" he's received from Bachelor Nation and social-media trolls has been "hurtful" as he's trying to move forward from his split with the 29-year-old former Minnesota elementary school teacher.
"I went on the show with no expectations. Just an open mind and an open heart," Nayte insisted, giving 29-year-old Michelle credit for helping him to be vulnerable and open his heart.
"But figured if I find my person, then thank God I went. Yes, I truly believed Michelle was my person."
Nayte proposed marriage to Michelle on The Bachelorette's Season 18 finale, which aired in December 2021, and then they announced their split on June 17 in different Instagram postings.
Nayte wrote on Instagram Stories, "When we both started this journey, we were looking for our Soulmates. Our forever. Our best friends. However, as we grow and learn, we also realize that sometimes somebody that you hold dear to your heart isn't somebody that you're meant to spend the rest of your life with."
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"Michelle and I are going to move forward separately. Hearts are heavy, emotions are high, and we are dealing with this the best way we can," he continued.
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Nayte then said the couple would be keeping the details of their split private and defended the genuineness of their relationship, which ended only six months after the finale of their The Bachelorette season aired last year.
"Michelle and I are naturally private people, and when it comes to this breakup, we will continue being so," wrote the Canada native currently living in Austin, TX.
"However, what I do want to share with you all is that this was real. We genuinely fell in love, and we genuinely became each other's best friends. Michelle and I will always cheer each other on, but moving forward, we will be cheering from a distance."
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In addition, Nayte also asked their Bachelor Nation fans to allow them some privacy as they work through their breakup.
"To the public who has supported these two complete strangers on your television screen, we appreciate you so much. Our relationship may have developed in the public eye, and we know this news will bring a lot of mixed reactions, but please remember that this is real. The emotions are real. The heartbreak is real. And that we are real," Nayte continued.
"We're human beings going through a breakup, and we all know breakups are difficult. So we're asking that you allow us our privacy so that we can mend our hearts in the privacy of our own lives. Thank you."
Michelle also posted a statement of her own, saying she and Nayte were going to go their "separate ways."
"To those who have supported Nayte and I, including Bachelor Nation, I know I speak for the both of us when saying having a relationship in the public eye has not been easy," Michelle wrote on Instagram Stories.
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"I'm struggling to say that Nayte and I will be going our separate ways but I stand with him in knowing the heaviness that is present in both our hearts as this relationship has been very real for us."
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Michelle then changed her focus of her posting to Nayte.
"To you, Nayte, you quickly became my best friend and the love I have for you is incredibly strong. I will never stop wanting to see you succeed," The Bachelorette star continued.
"I will always acknowledge and appreciate the adventures, support, and growth both Nayte and this experience have brought me. At the same time, I'm deeply hurting and will need time and space to work through this heartbreak."
Nayte subsequently removed "THE Michelle Young Fan Account" mention from his Instagram bio.
Michelle and Nayte got engaged on The Bachelorette's Season 18 finale last year and were given a $200,000 check intended to be the down payment for their first home together.
At the time, Nayte had said he had planned to move to Michelle's Minneapolis, MN hometown in the next two or three months and the couple claimed to have already begun house-hunting.
Instead, the couple had remained living apart and trying to make a long-distance relationship work.
"Plans changed as we decided there was no need to rush anything and get to know each other on a deeper level before taking the leap of living together," Nayte wrote on Saturday, according to Us.
"There's no rush in life. There's no rule book or timeline on how to go about your relationship. We believed that since the love was there, everything would fall into place naturally and in its own time."
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"We tried," he added. "It didn't work. We're sad about it. We all grieve different."
During a May episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, which is co-hosted by Michelle and Season 14 The Bachelorette alum Becca Kufrin, Michelle explained how she and Nayte had begun talking about moving in together and settling down now that she had been able to take a break from "traveling so much" with trips to New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, and Canada.
"I feel like [us moving in together] is the burning question. Every time I do a Q&A online, everyone is like, 'Why haven't you moved in yet? When are you moving in together?'" Michelle said.
"And really, it's just that we're trying to figure out where we want to be and what location we want to be at. It's just a constant, ongoing conversation and kind of depends [on] what next year is going to look like for me."
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Michelle and Nayte's split announcement came only a few weeks after Michelle took to Instagram on May 30 to deny rumors that The Bachelorette couple had split up and ended their engagement.
"And what I will have to say is to the person who is paying close enough attention to catch that moment," she continued, "you also had to be paying close enough attention to see one of my friends briefly remove my engagement ring to try it on and then place it back on my finger."
Michelle claimed she typically avoided commenting directly on speculation via her social-media platforms, but had decided it was necessary to depart from the policy and make a statement amid all the chatter about her romance, People reported.
Michelle, who said she had received "so many messages" from concerned fans, explained to her followers, "There is a video circulating of me on a rooftop this weekend and I'm not wearing my engagement ring."
Michelle also lashed out at the fan who had recorded her, noting she wasn't a "zoo exhibit."
"Just a friendly reminder that Nayte and I, we are human beings -- not a zoo exhibit," she said, before pointing out how someone "videoing somebody without them knowing is creepy" and "not cool."
Nayte had also joked on TikTok about how "90 percent" of his DMs on Instagram were fans questioning why Michelle isn't with him.
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In April, Michelle had said she and Nayte were in the beginning stages of wedding planning.
"Nayte and I, we know so many different people and we have such big families and that's a huge part of [our planning process]," Michelle told Us at the time.
"And so coming out of a pandemic... one thing that we both can't imagine is having a small wedding," the Minnesota native added, "and so we want to make sure that we're completely clear of that so that's not even a stressor for us, and then, [we want to have] warm weather [on our big day]."
Prior to her The Bachelorette stint, Michelle competed on Matt James' season of The Bachelor and finished as his runner-up.
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