Clare Crawley and Dale Moss sure sound like they are done for good this time — so no wonder she isn’t holding back any more!
The one-time lead of The Bachelorette opened up on Thursday about what she’s calling her “messy” breakup with the former reality TV contestant and football star. The Sacramento native went on Jana Kramer‘s Whine Down podcast to tell her side of the story, and it’s honestly kind of a shocker!
Related: TBF, Dale Has Honestly Been Shady As F**k In The Aftermath Of This Bad Breakup Though
First off, as far as her own emotional health, it sounds like Clare is understandably still struggling with the public nature of the split, as well as her (former) attachment to the 33-year-old.
She explained to Mike Caussin‘s ex-wife (below):
“My biggest regret is trusting the process, trusting a man — a man’s words and who he showed me he was. I don’t think that that’s a regret, like, I trusted somebody, I believed somebody that they were who they said they were or that they would hold up to the promises that they make when they get down on one knee. I don’t know if that’s a regret, I loved, and have always had such a deep love for, Dale, and A) he doesn’t go away overnight and B) I don’t regret that I loved loving him.”
We feel that!
Gotta go through it with breakups like this, unfortunately, and the 37-year-old hairstylist is experiencing that big time right now.
But the most interesting part of the conversation revolved around Dale’s apparent use of a publicist to get out in front of the breakup news and put his own spin on the whole thing.
Telling Kramer that she wished fans knew “both sides” of the breakup, Clare denied the PR rep’s claim that she blocked Dale’s number, and explained:
“It can get very messy and very icky, and I always try to err on the side of taking the high road, even when there are a lot of things I could say. I wish people knew both sides, you know, because it’s easy for a publicist or a source to put out a narrative of what they want their client or friend to look like and appear to, especially when your career is based, and dreams are based, on being in the public eye. But things are hurtful and I’m human, so it does affect me.”
Wow!
And she didn’t stop there! Clare lamented the reality TV breakup environment of planting stories and reports to spin the media narrative, too:
“It’s very impersonal to be putting out statements and articles. I think you both know the truth. I know the truth, he knows the truth. You know what happens behind closed doors, and when you know the truth, we know where your heart is, like, I don’t need a publicist speaking my side of the story. I don’t care for my side of the story, to be honest, to even be out there — even if I have receipts and proof, everything I need to show that I could really put it out there. I think it just seems icky. I think it seems icky when it’s like, ‘sources say,’ ‘the publicist says this,’ it’s just, why not talk to the person directly?”
Honestly, she’s not wrong!!! Criticism aside, you really have to feel for Clare after listening to this interview. Later in the podcast, she let through her raw emotions on the split. Public relations stuff aside, it obviously hurts, and she came to tears when talking about it. Revealing how she “would never have walked” away from Dale on her own, the former reality TV leading lady said:
“It’s painful when you feel like somebody who you love deeply doesn’t even have enough respect to take you to sit down and have a very vulnerable conversation and owning your stuff on both sides, you know, and just having a conversation. It’s hurtful because it’s like, ‘You think that little of me?’ But yet he supposedly loved me … How do you say goodbye to somebody you never wanted to walk away from? I would have never walked… You’re having to say goodbye to somebody you don’t want to be saying goodbye to, you have to walk away from somebody you don’t want to walk away from. It’s hard, it’s painful.”
Oof.
Thoughts, Perezcious readers?
Breakups suck, that’s for sure. And it sounds like they suck WAY worse when one side of the split is hidden behind a PR wall and won’t just come out and talk about it like a well-adjusted adult. Just saying… Are we wrong tho?!
[Image via Clare Crawley/Instagram]