Warning: Major Bachelorette spoilers are ahead.
Ever since Jed Wyatt's reported ex-girlfriend Haley Stevens came forward to accuse Jed of dating her before he went on The Bachelorette, allegedly planning to continue dating her afterwards, and only going on the show for fame — fans have wanted answers. Well, they finally got them. Jed addressed the girlfriend rumours on The Bachelorette finale, and he owned up to his role in the mess.
Previously, Stevens had claimed to Refinery29 that she and Jed were allegedly exclusive, and that he assured her he was going on the show to boost his music career, but that he would be back. Stevens said he never contacted her again — presumably because he got engaged to Bachelorette Hannah Brown in May.
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"All of this started because I fell in love with a person who felt like [going on the show] was the best thing for their career, a career that I also pursue," Stevens said to Refinery29. "So coming from that perspective, when someone that you love thinks it's the best move for their career, you support them."
Jed did admit to Hannah during an early date that he initially came on the show for the platform for his music, but then he assured her that he was really falling for her. He never said anything about a girlfriend.
But now he's coming clean. Once Stevens came forward with her story, Jed and Hannah sat down for a recorded conversation about the allegations. "There was two very different views of what actually happened," Jed told Hannah. "It never felt like a relationship to me." He added that he was seeing other women prior to the show as well, so he didn't consider things with Stevens exclusive. He did say that she met his parents when they happened to be nearby, and they also went to the Bahamas together for her birthday, but only because her parents paid for the trip. He said to Hannah that he sees now, in hindsight, that they were dating.
As for Jed ghosting Stevens upon his return from the show, Jed told Hannah that he said goodbye to that chapter of his life within himself, but he didn't vocalize it to Stevens. "After I landed in L.A. and started this whole thing [the show], that was like a goodbye for me," he said. "Not a verbal goodbye."
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On the live show with host Chris Harrison, Jed got a chance to apologize again to Hannah and to viewers. "I am responsible for this. I will own up to it all day," he said.
During his initial talk with Hannah, Jed said he had been "scared" to tell Hannah about Stevens because he didn't want to lose what he had with Hannah. But he ended up losing it anyway for not being honest. Hannah told him that their engagement didn't mean what it once did because of the secrets he'd kept, and she eventually ended things all together. On the live show, Hannah told Jed that she appreciated his apology but that what he did "was not right and not good." Ultimately, though, she said she just wanted him to learn from the experience in order to "grow into the man that I do believe that you can be for whoever in your future."
So Hannah's season concluded without an engagement, and Jed is out a girlfriend, but hopefully this was a learning experience for everyone. If nothing else, at least now everyone knows Jed's side of the story, too.