Devin Strader has explained following Maria Georgas on Instagram after his split from Jenn Tran, which really hurt The Bachelorette star.
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To make matters worse, Jenn and Maria used to be best friends and had a falling out, and Devin allegedly followed Maria just one day after he dumped Jenn on the phone in early August.
Devin said he's "taking full accountability" for following Maria during a 13-minute Instagram video he had posted on Tuesday, September 10 to share "my truth" and put to rest "false narratives" about his relationship with Jenn and overall character.
"I did follow her, I think, the week of August 14," Devin claimed, which would mean he followed Maria well over a week after his split from Jenn.
"I followed a bunch of Bachelor Nation accounts. But, regardless, it was still an ill-advised decision on my part."
Devin called the follow "an emotionally-charged decision," and he said that he spoke to Jenn about it the very next day.
According to a screenshot of Devin's call log, he called Jenn at 10:30AM on August 15 and they had a 34-minute conversation.
"I did apologize, and she is the only one who needed an apology in that moment. I realized I made a mistake, and I am sorry to her for that," Devin explained.
"Reflecting back, I do realize that I had made a poor decision, and I shouldn't be playing with people's feelings especially when it's regarding their emotions."
Devin suggested that he regrets following Maria because of the drama it caused.
"I shouldn't also be following people that I have no relationship with whatsoever," Devin said.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"I don't know Maria, I've never met Maria, I've never met up with Maria, and I will never follow Maria."
Devin acknowledged, however, that he knows the move "hurt Jenn," and he added, "I'm not trying to excuse my behavior. I'm just here to apologize for that, so I am sorry."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
On After the Final Rose, Jenn told Devin, "The next day [after you dumped me], I wake up to you following girls on Instagram, and not just any girl, but Maria! Not only is that so disrespectful to everything we had shared... [but] it completely invalidated our entire relationship."
Jenn wondered if Devin had done it just to be "cruel," and then she took another jab at her ex-fiance.
"Because you said, 'Oh, I was having such a hard time with this breakup.' Next thing I know, you were in New York clubbing with [Jeremy Simon]! You said, 'Oh, I need time and space because this makes me sad.'"
In his Instagram video, Devin claimed he had traveled to New York on business and met up with Jeremy about a week before After the Final Rose -- not right after his breakup with Jenn.
Maria, for her part, spoke out about Devin's follow in a September 5 TikTok video, attempting to set the record straight as fans speculated about the nature of their relationship.
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According to Maria, she didn't even learn Devin had followed her on Instagram until after he had already done damage control and unfollowed her.
"Yes, Devin followed me on Instagram," Maria confirmed.
"Guys, I don't pay attention to who follows me and who doesn't. I had no clue about that until people brought it to my attention I didn't know. And by that time, when I found out, he had unfollowed."
"Let me clear the air on something -- I have never met Devin before. I never went clubbing out with him. I understand he did his own thing."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
"I can't control who follows who," she added later in her video. "But what I can control is what I do about it. And what I'm doing is not following back, and I never followed back."
"And now seeing how things transpired, I will never follow that man. And people knew that. So the fact that this whole thing has come out now, and the story has changed is beyond me," she concluded.
Jenn apparently believes Maria because she said on the September 10 episode of the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast that she knew nothing was going on between Devin and Maria.
Jenn told Kaitlyn Bristowe that she didn't mention Maria's name to throw her under the bus, but rather to simply call out Devin for his offensive actions. Jenn also insisted she has no problem with Maria.
Devin initially posted -- and deleted -- a different Instagram video that shared "sensitive" information about Jenn, and he later apologized for uploading that original clip.
"I deeply am so sorry for showing sensitive information from the bottom of my heart. That was not my intention," Devin wrote via Instagram Stories in a since-deleted post, according to Life & Style.
"My only intention is to show the relationship from my perspective. I gain nothing from that text conversation being shown. I promise you that was a mistake."
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"I know there's not words that can make this better," Devin continued. "But I can ensure that there was no intent to show that text. I hope you can please find it in your hearts to forgive me."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
