“All I’m looking to do here is tell my side, take accountability, and apologize for some of the things that I wasn’t able to say at AFR,” Strader began before launching into an 13-minute expression of “his truth.” Though Strader claimed he was “by no means looking to denounce Jenn” or “come at her in any way or say anything negative about her,” there’s no doubt the Season 21 lead will be extremely unhappy with the massive violation of privacy, which features months of text messages, call records, and intimate conversations between the two.
UPDATE 10:00 p.m. ET: After receiving backlash for revealing sensitive information through text messages with Tran featured in his original video, Strader deleted and reposted the video with select information removed. The second video is featured below, along with an Instagram Story apology that followed his re-post.
In “looking to clear up a few rumors of the false narrative that’s being said,” Strader kicked things off by showing a series of text messages he and Tran sent each other after leaving the show and in the lead-up to After the Final Rose. He repeatedly pointed out an August 27 text, in which he claims Tran — who’s saved in his phone as “Coco Chanel” — told him they “were on good terms and friends.” Three hours prior to AFR, Strader said, Tran sent another text saying, “Even though things weren’t perfect between our relationship, she’ll always cherish and love between us, and no matter what happens, she’ll always be rooting for me. She specifically says, ‘No matter how things play out on TV.'”
During the live finale event, Tran called Strader out for breaking up with her over the phone, so Strader took time to address that point as well, showing texts from the morning of their breakup along with some of the fallout afterwards. “As you can see, there are multiple different occasions where I do say that I really want to meet up in person,” he told Instagram followers. “To say this, she basically forces us out of me. She says that I call her, which was not the case, at which point I did feel the need that I owed her that conversation. I did try to meet up with her. I did try to go to the Happy Couple, and she did not let me… So I didn’t really know what else to do. She kind of forced my hand.”
Photos: ABC ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps
Strader went on to tell viewers, “this isn’t going to be every single text that Jenn and I have ever sent to each other,” before scrolling through what felt like every text he and Tran ever sent each other. Receipts are one thing, but Strader’s THIRTEEN-MINUTE defense quickly reaches a point where viewers of The Bachelorette will feel as though they’ve seen things they shouldn’t have seen. Nevertheless, Strader continued, arguing, “I think it’s important to highlight the highs and the lows of the inner workings of what went on in between our relationship and while we were together.”
Strader claimed “there’s a lot of false narratives being pushed” and said “the effort and the love” he had for Tran was real. He also maintains that he didn’t pull away immediately after they got engaged, but rather following their breakup. “I was trying to move on with my life, as hard as that is to say. I needed that for my own happiness,” he said, showing phone logs from the days after they called the engagement off.
“As you see, at no point did I ever leave her in the dark, and I was very open and honest about everything that I stood for, and especially where my heart was in that time in place,” Strader continued. “I just am very confused by how the narrative can be pushed that I was absent from this relationship, even when I was present…Frankly, I was stunned, and frankly I was shocked, and had no words at the way that our relationship was being depicted on TV. It was absolutely asinine, and it was really, really disheartening to hear the way Jenn described it, because that wasn’t true. We both knew that that wasn’t true, but I didn’t want to fight with her. That wasn’t my intention.”
Think we’re just about done here? Not a chance! Next on the agenda? Couples’ counseling! During After the Final Rose, Tran claimed that Strader wasn’t open to counseling to try to save their relationship, but Strader said that wasn’t true.
“I’m not going to let her paint this picture that isn’t true about what went on in our relationship, especially regarding the couple’s counseling. I know that was a huge issue for her. I actually scheduled multiple appointments with her, and we went to a couple sessions together,” he claimed. “On top of that, Jenn and I were also doing individual counseling with our respective therapists from the show at the time. The reason I stopped going to couples’ counseling is due to the fact that Jenn fired our original therapist without consulting me about it. I only had to find out through an email from our therapist saying that she sorry things couldn’t work out. I confronted Jenn about this, and she never even gave me an explanation. All she could say was that she didn’t like her and that she wasn’t experienced enough.”
Think we’re just about done here now ? Still no! Did you really think we’d make it out without hearing about Maria Georgas, who lives rent free in the Bachelor franchise? For those who need a refresher, Tran claimed during AFR that Strader followed Georgas on Instagram the day after their breakup. He did take “full accountability” for following the Bachelor Season 28 alum, but suggests that the follow wasn’t that deep.
“I did follow her. I think the week of August 14 I followed a bunch of Bachelor Nation accounts, but regardless, it was still an ill advised decision on my part. I made an emotionally charged decision, and Jenn and I were in a fight at the time, and her and I did speak about that the next day,” he explained. “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… I don’t know Maria. I’ve never met Maria. I’ve never met up with Maria, and I will never follow Maria. I know I hurt Jenn now, and I’m not trying to excuse my behavior. I’m just here to apologize for that.”
Before the video came to an end, Strader also broke down the “clubbing with Jeremy” allegations and dove into rewatching the show and seeing Tran’s strong feelings for runner-up Marcus Shoberg. “I had to clearly watch myself play second to someone else, and that’s okay, you know, we moved on from that. I wasn’t her first choice… I don’t fault her for the feelings that she had towards Marcus, but I wasn’t informed of that, even during our relationship,” he shared
“I’m not trying to play the victim here. I really, really don’t want that,” Strader said before finally signing off. “…The things that were said about our relationship were incredibly inaccurate, and I just wanted to do my best to speak on the circumstances of the situation.”
Before Strader stopped recording he apologized to Tran for the way things played out, but we’re not sure how willing to forgive she’ll be after he gave the world access their private text messages. That was a real choice on Strader’s part, and one he received swift backlash for from disgusted members of Bachelor Nation.
After Strader deleted, edited, and reposted his Instagram video, he posted an apology story, writing, “I deeply am so sorry for showing sensitive information from the bottom of my heart. That was not my intention. My only intention is to show the relationship from my perspective. I gain nothing from that text conversation being shown. I tried to sensor out all personal/sensitive information, I honestly missed this one & fucked up. I know there’s no words that can make this better, 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.”
The ball’s in Tran’s court now, but she may be too busy in the Dancing With the Stars ballroom to give The Bachelorette breakup more of her time.
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