The Bachelorette bachelor Connor Brennan has rushed to Greg Grippo's defense after Katie Thurston appeared to accuse Greg of gaslighting her during their final breakup conversation that aired during Monday night's episode.
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"Sometimes cameras and tweets can't accurately capture the complexity of real life," Connor added. "Kindness is free, love is complicated #TheBacheloretteABC."
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While many Twitter users agreed with Connor, whom Katie affectionately called "Connor the Cat" on her season, other people took an opportunity to argue with the teacher and singer.
"And sometimes manipulative gaslighting turns into physical abuse and the perpetrator excuses it because his friends defend him," one Twitter user wrote in response to Connor's post.
"This is an opportunity to still support your friend and acknowledge he crossed a line and encourage him to get help before it escalates."
Connor countered in a since-deleted response, "There was no gaslighting in this episode, there was a fight between two people that you saw maybe 20 percent of."
Another person also fired away at Connor, "You telling us you were ok with the gaslighting that Greg pulled on tonight's show?"
"I won't argue on Twitter," Connor tweeted in reply. "I won't argue on Twitter. I won't argue on Twitter."
Connor and Greg became good friends while filming The Bachelorette earlier this year, as footage even once showed them sitting arm-in-arm and basically snuggling at the New Mexico resort.
Connor also sang a song he wrote called "Bromance" on The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All last month about his fellow Season 17 bachelors, and so Connor apparently has his buddy's back in light of recent headlines slamming Greg.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWKatie took to her Instagram Stories on Monday night and shared a post that read, "So you want to talk about gaslighting."
Katie's Instagram Stories post linked to a "Gaslighting" slideshow post on another Instagram account that includes a definition for gaslighting.
The Instagram slideshow defines "gaslighting" as "a form of emotional abuse or psychological manipulation involving distorting the truth in order to confuse or instill doubt in another person to the point they question their own sanity or reality."
It also lists the following as signs of gaslighting: "lying, discrediting, deflecting blame, minimizing, shifting blame and denying wrongdoing."
While Katie didn't name Greg directly or even mention her The Bachelorette breakup, fans were led to assume she was referring to Greg as the gaslighter since social media was buzzing about their brutal breakup at the time and many Twitter users had even called Greg out for emotionally manipulating Katie.
During Monday night's penultimate episode of The Bachelorette's seventeenth season, Greg poured his heart out to Katie in tears after she met his family, saying he was "in love with" her and planned to get down on one knee.
He said Katie had filled a hole in his heart that was formed from his beloved father's tragic passing.
But instead of giving Greg the validation he needed in such a vulnerable moment, Katie just looked at the bachelor longingly, giggled and replied, "I just love looking at you."
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Katie explained that she wanted to save her "I love you" for her final bachelor at the Final Rose Ceremony and she felt she had given Greg confidence in their romance all season long, but Greg apparently felt he had lost the authentic Katie he had grown to adore that evening.
The next day, Greg visited Katie in her hotel room and essentially accused her of being guarded and unlike her usual self.
Greg seemed desperate for reassurance that their love was as real to her as it was to him -- but Katie only turned the suitor off more once she called him her "No. 1 since the beginning."
Katie, who made it clear to producers and viewers that Greg was her clear choice out of her Final 3 bachelors, asked Greg to trust her because she cared for him immensely, but she was still holding out on the depth of her feelings.
Greg therefore said he was "done" and quit the show, which left Katie bawling in a bathroom and questioning if she should end The Bachelorette process early and just go home because she had lost her confidence and felt "destroyed."
The Bachelorette episode on Monday night ended on a cliffhanger, with Katie trying to decide if she could even most past her split from Greg and resume dating her Final 2 bachelors, Justin Glaze and Blake Moynes.
The Bachelorette's three-hour finale for Season 17 will air Monday, August 9 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
