Kaitlyn Bristowe Says Finances Strain Played Role In Breakup

Kaitlyn Bristowe is getting candid about her past romance with fellow “Bachelorette” alum Jason Tartick, and she’s not sugarcoating how things ended behind the scenes.

The former couple began dating in 2019 and got engaged in May 2021.

At the time, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick were publicly optimistic about their future together.

During Thursday’s episode of her “Off the Vine” podcast, the 39-year-old reality TV star revealed that she often felt “very used” throughout her four-year relationship with Tartick, who she met during a 2018 taping of the same show.

“Although my house was paid off, I would have to go to him [Tartick] on the first of every month being like, ‘Can you split bills?’” Bristowe said. “That makes me feel cheap. We had both very similar income. I felt like he was riding a wave.”

Bristowe didn’t stop there. She also implied that Tartick may have capitalized on their relationship to bolster his public persona and career.

“And I’m not saying he didn’t love me because I think he did, also unsure, but it felt like [he was] riding coattails, riding a wave, [to get to] where he wanted to get to,” she said.

Reflecting on where she believes her ex stands today, Bristowe added, “I would really encourage that person to get quiet with himself and actually find out who he is.”

“I do have my eggs frozen so the biological clock is not exactly ticking, but I do really want to think about that,” she said. “I have met my person, we are getting married, and so I do feel like that next step, quickly after, is going to be having a family.”

But those plans didn’t materialize.

In August 2023, the pair announced their breakup in a joint statement on social media.

“Continuing our friendship is incredibly important to both of us,” they said. “We feel grateful to be ending our engagement with love and respect for each other. It’s heartbreaking and sad to say goodbye, but our care and admiration for one another will never die.”

Since the split, Tartick had a brief six-month relationship with TikTok star Kat Stickler, ending in October 2024. Meanwhile, Bristowe has been linked to Zac Clark, another familiar face from Bachelor Nation.

The former “Bachelorette” lead has faced a wave of online backlash since announcing the end of her four-year relationship with Tartick in 2023. But according to Bristowe, it wasn’t just strangers on the internet who left her feeling unprotected.

“I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn’t know it was going to be THAT bad of what people were saying to me,” Bristowe said in 2023. “It was already my fault when we weren’t posting enough, and people were questioning everything. It was always like, ‘God, you’re ruining another good thing! This is what you do!’”

Though Bristowe said she’s willing to “hold [herself] accountable for certain things in the relationship,” she emphasized that fans really don’t know what went on behind the scenes. “The fans don’t know anything,” she stated.

When asked directly if she had hoped Tartick would publicly defend her, Bristowe didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah, a little bit,” she admitted. “We talked about protecting each other through it because, of course, when you go through breakups, you want to have your and someone to have their sides. You want to justify it and say everything, but we agreed on protecting each other.”

That promise, however, was put to the test after Tartick posted a video on social media that, according to Bristowe, triggered a new wave of hate. “The messages that I got after that were just [awful],” she said. “And he was like, ‘Well, I didn’t get one message about it.’ And I was like, ‘I did!’”

While Jason Tartick has spoken out about his split from Kaitlyn, he has not yet commented on her recent financial allegations.