“The Bachelorette”'s Bryan Abasolo files for divorce from Rachel Lindsay after 4 years of marriage

"Sometimes loving yourself and your partner means you must let go," Abasolo wrote on social media.

Bachelor Nation is kicking off the New Year with a surprising split.

The Bachelorette couple Bryan Abasolo and Rachel Lindsay are calling it quits after four years of marriage. According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Abasolo filed for divorce from Lindsay in Los Angeles on Jan. 2, citing irreconcilable differences. He later announced the breakup in a brief statement shared on Instagram.

"If you've been following me for a while, you know I don't like to put my personal affairs on social media and like to keep a safe space for our family," he wrote in the post. "Many of you know me as a chiropractor, and also as a husband, my proudest role so far. After more than 4 years of marriage, Rachel and I have made the difficult decision to part ways and start anew.”

Abasolo continued, "My parents have been married forever and I'm a family man, but sometimes loving yourself and your partner means you must let go. I wanted you to hear it from the source before the blogs start making up their own reality. Please respect the spaces of our family and friends as we figure out our next steps."

A representative for Lindsay did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

One day before news of the divorce broke, Lindsay shared a video compilation of moments from 2023 with the caption, “Definitely one of the hardest years of my life, but choosing to focus on grateful moments and carrying that energy into 2024.”

The couple first met in 2017 on night one of Lindsay's season of The Bachelorette, when Abasolo charmed her with some Spanish and a kiss. Their relationship deepened as the season progressed, culminating with the finale, where they got engaged in Spain. After a two-year engagement, the pair tied the knot in 2019.

Since the show, Lindsay — a former attorney — has focused on her TV career, working as an Extra correspondent and the cohost of MTV's Ghosted: Love Gone Missing. In 2021, after years of maintaining a bicoastal relationship, Abasolo relocated from Miami (where his practice was based) to live with Lindsay in Los Angeles.

Following their Bachelor Nation tenure, the couple worked to keep their relationship away from the spotlight. In a December episode of Nick Viall's Viall Files podcast, Lindsay explained why they’ve been wary of public scrutiny.

"We don’t put ourselves out there at all [except] maybe an anniversary or a holiday, but I think I did that because people were so critical of us when we came off the show," Lindsay said. "Marriage has ups and downs, but you never know when we’re good or when we’re not because we never put it out there. I kind of want to keep it that way, so when I want to share something, I do."

As recently as November, Lindsay shared that she and Absolo planned to start a family together.

"It's something that we want," she told E! News. "It's been harder than I thought it would be. We're trying. You think, 'Oh yeah, when I'm ready, I'll make it happen.' But it's just been a little bit more difficult for us. But we're definitely starting the process."

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