Rachel Recchia Reveals Her Current Feelings for Clayton Echard After Tearful Bachelor Breakup
Hindsight is always 20/20, especially on The Bachelor.
The March 15 episode was a tough night for Rachel Recchia, who was forced to re-live her rollercoaster of an experience on the show after failing to get a rose from Clayton Echard.
"I think the hardest part for me watching this back is knowing how in love with him I was," she told host Jesse Palmer. "Watching these last few episodes, I didn't know what was going on behind the scenes, I feel like I was watching somebody get completely blindsided."
Rachel was in the thick of a mess made by Clayton, after he confessed feelings for and slept with both Rachel and finalist Gabby Windey before his fantasy suite date with Susie.
She was upset about the way Clayton treated her, but also in the way he treated Gabby.
"To see the complete disrespect to both me and Gabby, in the sense that he couldn't even break up with us separately?" she argued. "For me, he broke my heart at the Rose Ceremony and I kept going because he never gave me a reason to believe it wasn't me. Then he broke my heart for a second time."
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Despite Clayton asking her to leave, Rachel still wanted to fight for the relationship.
"I've never felt the way that I felt for him," she told Jesse. "When I'm truly in love, I feel like you need to fight for that person. I fought all the way to the end, way past a point I thought I could go personally."
As she started getting emotional recalling that final night, Jesse asked Rachel if she was still in love with Clayton.
"I do not have feelings for him anymore," she said plainly. "Watching him completely disrespect Gabby and I, since the beginning of Iceland, I don't feel like it's possible for me to watch that back and feel like someone who could act like that could truly love me. So, no I don't."
The studio audience applauded. And so did we, honestly.
Of course, it didn't end there. Rachel still had to face Clayton one-one-one.
Rachel was visibly emotional, but she assured Clayton he wasn't the catalyst.
"None of these emotions are for you or about you," she said. "It has nothing to do with any lingering feelings, because I become collateral damage in your in your journey for love. That was the most completely selfish journey."
Clayton gave another run-of-the-mill apology that, at this point, we've heard a hundred times. He expressed sympathy and regret, but failed to show any emotion.
"I just don't believe you," Rachel said bluntly. "The fact that this is the first time I'm hearing any sort of apology on camera? We watched what you said these last two episodes. You told us you wanted to give us transparency. But you left out the most important things. You left out the part that you already knew who the one was who you loved the most."
Rachel is referring, of course, to Susie.
In fact, Rachel went so far as to question if Clayton was ever really in love with her at all.
"You told me that I was the first person that you said 'I love you' to in six years," she argued. "I had no reason to ever doubt you. So, did you tell me that you were in love with me because you wanted to sleep with me?"
You probably heard us gasp from here.
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