Clayton Echard 'Felt Abandoned' After Susie Evans Split: 'I Didn't Even Want to Look in Her Direction'

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Craig Sjodin/abc

Clayton Echardis opening up about his emotions followinghis splitwithSusie Evans.

“It’s really hard because when we first broke up…my first initial feeling was, like, I felt abandoned; that was my first feeling,” he told hostKaitlyn Bristowe. “I was upset. I didn’t even want to look in her direction because I was like: If I look at you, the hurt is gonna tear me apart.”

Evans responded, “He was very sassy, and I didn’t like it. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s how we’re gonna do it?’ "

Craig Sjodin/abc

However, the resentment towards Evans didn’t last long.

“That lasted like half a day, and then I was like I can’t do this,” Echard admitted. “I can’t ignore her for this next week. I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this. There’s so much love here. I want us to end on happy terms. So then I apologized, and I was like, ‘Hey, I want us to be happy,’ and then we were happy for a few days.”

Both Evans and Echard said they wondered if they made the right decision to end their relationship.

“We were crying non-stop,” Echard said. “We were like, ‘Wait, we’re having so much fun now, should we not break up?’ "

After deciding to stay separated, Evans reached back out to Echard, the former NFL athlete said on the podcast. However, he wonders what will be best for the former couple.

“Can Susie and I find a way to still keep in contact but not hold onto this feeling of: Can this work? Because what happens if it doesn’t?” he said. “I don’t want to be crushed and hold onto hope. And then all of a sudden, no this isn’t going to work…then it just destroys you a second time.”

Last week, Evans posted aTikTok videothat joked about feeling better — all with the help of some generic self-care — after their breakup.

Clayton Echard Instagram

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“Me to every self-care ritual I’ve picked up this week,” she wrote on the video. “You better fix my entire life, you little s—.”

Evans added, “But really.”

In the clip, she’s seen wearing a face mask and speaking to an empty journal.

Echard and Evans announced their breakup in a joint Instagram post last month. “With incredibly heavy hearts, we wanted to share that we have decided to go our separate ways. For anyone who has ever loved, knows this was a painful decision to make and not one taken lightly,” they wrote.

“We understand that there will likely be a lot of questions about this decision — social media is definitely a highlight reel and much of our experiences together we have kept private as I’m sure most can understand. But we will share this — although this last year together has brought us so much joy and so many laughs, there has also been a significant amount of pain.”

The couple met onThe Bachelor— though Evans self-eliminated from the series. In August, Echard and Evans announced they’d be trying along-distance relationship. “We’re like, ‘We don’t know if it’s going to be a month-long [relationship] from here or if it’s gonna be lifetime but, like, there’s no pressure,” Echard said at the time. “Let’s just love each other and be thankful.”

source: people.com