Kaitlyn Bristowe promised to speak her truth in her latest podcast — minus any details on her current dating life.
“There’s only one thing off-limit[s], and that’s my dating life right now,” Bristowe began on the Thursday, April 3, episode of the “Off the Vine” podcast.
Eagle-eyed fans have uncovered clues that point to Bristowe currently dating The Bachelorette season 16 alum Zac Clark. Bristowe was previously in a relationship with The Bachelorette season 14 alum Jason Tartick, whom she was together with for four years before the pair split in August 2023. Among the claims on Thursday’s podcast about Tartick was allegations he stole her “dream baby name,” Teddy, for his new dog.
“This will probably be the last time I will ever speak on him ever again because I didn’t for so long and that felt really good because I had let it go and then that kind of just fired something up in me again and I think it’s OK to talk about,” Bristowe said.
Before Tartick, Bristowe was engaged to Shawn Booth, the winner of her season 11 of The Bachelorette.
Scroll down to see Bristowe’s biggest claims about Booth and Tartick in her podcast:
‘Toxic Back and Forth’ Between Her and Booth
Bristowe claimed that there was “so much toxic back and forth” between her and Booth, adding that they “met each other at our insecurities.”
“Instead of calming the other one down or helping or understanding or hearing the other person, we would, like, meet them at our anger level,” Bristowe said. “And I think we were just like two people who were very much in love, but, like, couldn’t let go of things.”
Bristowe Says She’s ‘Happy’ for Booth
Bristowe revealed that she wants to be in a good place with Booth — who welcomed a baby with Audrey “Dre” Joseph in 2023 — years after their split. “I actually can now look at Shawn and be like, ‘I really am happy for him.’ I actually want the best for him. I would like to be friends,” she said. “I feel like I’ve gotten really quiet with thoughts of anger that I used to have toward him, and now I actually have compassion instead of anger, and I’ve moved through a lot of emotions for him, where I actually want to hug him and, like, be friends and say, like, ‘You’ve shared with me why this hurt you so bad, and you wanted to get me back, and we were both vindictive, and it was in this time in my life.’ But like, I’m so happy for him and where he’s at right now.”
At the time, Bristowe said she felt like “he was hanging on to the relationship to open his gym.” She added, “I felt used. I did not feel loved. I felt like he knew that us together was better than him on his own. I’m saying this from my standpoint, I’m not saying he actually did this.”
Bristowe Felt ‘Very Used’ In Tartick Relationship
Bristowe claimed that she also felt “very used” in her relationship with Tartick.
“Although my house was paid off, I would have to go to him on the first of every month being like, ‘Can you split bills?’ That makes me feel cheap. We both had very similar income[s],” Bristowe claimed. “I felt like he was riding a wave.”
Bristowe then hinted that she isn’t sure if Tatrick loved her.
“And I’m not saying he didn’t love me, because I think he did — also unsure,” she said. “But it felt like riding coattails, riding a wave, got to where he wanted to get to. And I think why he was so broken about the relationship was because he didn’t know who he was without me. And I think he still is really working on who he is without a dog, a girlfriend, a something. And I would really encourage that person to get quiet with himself and actually find out who he is.”
Bristowe Asked Tartick Not to Pursue Podcasting — And Said He ‘Lost the Plot’ of the Relationship
Bristowe said she “can own everything” she did “wrong” in that relationship and admitted she was “trying to hold him back” from podcasting in their relationship.
“Same thing with Shawn opening a gym. I was like, ‘I know this is the nail in the coffin,’ because our relationship is already not good. With [Jason], I was like, I know that you starting a podcast is going to cross wires. It’s my favorite thing that I do. You knew moving into my house, that’s one thing I was like, ‘Please don’t do.’ He did it anyways. It was all just about his schedule. What would make him grow — he always said financially, professionally and personally — and I was made to feel crazy because I was stunting his growth, but really I knew exactly what was going to happen, which happened. He started taking email lists and these clients and this and building up his from what I’ve already built. And then the resentment starts.”
She continued, “The thing about this is, no matter how much I can explain this situation, the people who love him will always hate me. The people who love me will see exactly what I see. … I don’t think I treated him very nicely towards the end, because I was so angry because of feelings of betrayal. It feels like he really lost the plot of a relationship.”
Bristowe Addresses Dog Coparenting Drama With Tartick
Bristowe set the record straight about her dog coparenting issues with Tartick.
“I never once said he couldn’t see the dogs. I said, ‘I’m no longer willing to coparent the dogs.’ I always said to him, ‘I will never take the dogs away from you. You can come see them on the weekends.’ I’m not letting the dogs bounce back-and-forth,” Bristowe said, explaining that the dogs had “severe anxiety” and were “so comfortable” at home. “They were so confused. Ramen would play dead and not want to go anywhere.”
Bristowe explained that she and Tartick both spoke with people and decided that what was “best” for the dogs was to stay in one home.
“Never once did I say, ‘You can’t see the dogs.’ And so then he went on a podcast and said, ‘I’m not allowed to see the dogs.’ And his cohost said something like, ‘Oh, let me guess it was around the time of your new relationship.’ And he went, ‘Yeah,’” Bristowe recalled, referring to Tartick’s ex Kat Stickler. “I would have never said he couldn’t see the dogs.”
Bristowe claimed that Tartick had not asked to see the dogs. “And when I said, ‘I’m no longer willing to coparent the dogs,’ that was two months after we had been going back-and-forth while he was in a relationship. Maybe the public didn’t know he was in relationship, but I did. He told me. And we were doing the coparenting thing.”
Tartick and Stickler ultimately called it quits in October 2024 after less than a year of dating.
Tartick Naming His Dog Bristowe’s No. 1 Baby Name
He has since adopted a dog, whom he shared he named Teddy. The moniker, however, was allegedly Bristowe’s No. 1 baby name.
“It’s not that I’m not over him. I’m very much over him. I ended the relationship. I did not want to be in that. It felt icky to me. It felt like everything was for Instagram and numbers. I did not want to be in it. But to get a dog name that dog my dream baby name that I’ve had in my baby names for 10 years,” Bristowe claimed. “I said, the day I met him, ‘I want to name my baby Teddy.’”
She continued, “I know I seem very angry, but it’s more like, I don’t like feeling disrespected. I just have so many gross feelings from that because for so long I was made to feel crazy, and now I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m not crazy.’ I just saw what other people are seeing now. It’s just not aligned. What I want out of life is not what he wants, and two people shouldn’t be together like that. I’m not fully angry. I’m just really grossed out and disappointed.”
Setting Record Straight About Finances
Bristowe appeared to throw shade at Tartick’s previous comments that he was unaware of her credit score while they were together. “Just last thing, I had a great credit score,” Bristowe said. “I had a great credit score, OK? You moved in to my house.”
Tartick previously wrote in his 2024 book, Talk Money to Me: The 8 Essential Financial Questions to Discuss With Your Partner, that the pair were in the dark about each other’s finances prior to moving in together. He wrote, “Credit score: I didn’t know hers; she didn’t know mine.”
