How The Bachelor's Kaitlyn Bristowe Accepted Her Chris Soules Breakup

Kaitlyn Bristowe is opening up about how she dealt with her notorious split from Chris Soules. As longtime Bachelor Nation fans will already know, Bristowe joined the franchise in 2015 while competing on Season 19 of "The Bachelor," where she tried to win the heart of Chris Soules (aka Farmer Chris). Bristowe ended up coming in third place, finishing behind Becca Tilley and Soules' winner, Whitney Bischoff.

You could say Bristowe got the last laugh, though. Soules and Bischoff confirmed in a statement obtained by E! News that they'd called off their engagement just months after the show's finale aired. Bristowe then, of course, went on to look for love again on Season 11 of "The Bachelorette" and ended up engaged to Shawn Booth, before competing on Season 29 of "Dancing with the Stars." Although things didn't end with marriage between Bristowe and Booth (they split in 2018), she only went from strength to strength professionally, co-hosting Season 17 and Season 18 of "The Bachelorette" alongside Tayshia Adams and launching her own podcast, "Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe."

But while Bristowe is clearly living the high life in the wake of her split with Soules, that isn't stopping her from speaking out about the dramatic split all of America watched play out all those years ago — and she's making a bombshell admission about how she really accepted the split that seemed on screen to be oh so heartbreaking.

Kaitlyn Bristowe got very honest about what went down at the end of "The Bachelor," admitting she struggled to know if she genuinely loved Chris Soules or if she got caught up in the competition. Speaking on the January 31 episode of "Not Skinny But Not Fat," Bristowe explained, "I really pondered on that for a long time, if I was actually in love or if I was just wanting to be the best. And I think it was both for me."

She then recalled how the show's therapist came to see her after things ended with Soules — and dropped a bomb. "I was hysterically bawling... I was like, 'No, I think I really did love him' and she was like, 'Kaitlyn, every rose ceremony you got through I was so scared for you because you would've been bored to death with that man.'" It was then that Bristowe realized maybe she didn't love Soules like she thought. "I was like, 'Oh. Wow.' I've been surrounded by producers for so long, how nice to just have a real thought and a real statement said to me where it's like, 'No, you wouldn't have been happy.' And I was like, 'You're right.'"

Of course, Bristowe has since gone on to find love with another Bachelor Nation alumni, Jason Tartick (of "The Bachelorette" Season 14 fame), and the happy couple got engaged in May 2021. All's well that ends well, right?