UPDATE — June 18, 2024, 12:59 p.m. PT: Well, it’s official! Clayton Echard is NOT the father!
On Monday, the former Bachelor was officially vindicated in court as legal documents completely cleared him from the accusation that he’d gotten a woman pregnant with twins after a hookup! As you may recall (below), Echard had been in court fighting against allegations made by a woman named Laura Owens who asserted that he got her pregnant with twins after they’d had a one-night stand in May of 2023. But a judge turned down Owens’ claims and tossed out her case altogether!
Per Us Weekly, which first published court documents on Tuesday confirming that the paternity claim had been tossed out and the court had found in the 31-year-old former reality TV star’s favor, the docs state:
“In this case, the gravamen of [Echards’] position is that [Owens] has fabricated her pregnancy, a condition which cannot have resulted from the parties’ interactions, because according to [Echard] they never had sexual intercourse. [Echard] seeks to have the protective order invalidated based on the alleged fabrication, while [Owens] essentially argues that even if she was never pregnant, the sexual activity between the two, and Respondent’s subsequent harassing online conduct, are sufficient to sustain the order regardless.”
The legal docs went on to add:
“Laura Owens knowingly presented a false claim, knowingly violated a court order compelling disclosure or discovery such that an award of attorney fees and costs is appropriate.”
Bam! Over! Per the mag’s report, Echard has been officially granted his petition for non-paternity, and Owens must cough up the cash for his attorney fees. Speaking of Clayton’s attorney, he gave a statement to Us Weekly after the case was decided in his TV star client’s favor. Echard’s lawyer Gregg Woodnick said:
“We are pleased with the outcome and Judge Mata’s thorough ruling. We hope this is the end of a long saga for all the victims.”
So there you have it! Clayton has been vindicated by the paternity results from late last year (below) and then DOUBLE vindicated by the courtroom decision. Thoughts??
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The paternity test results are in!
For those who haven’t been keeping up, The Bachelor alum Clayton Echard was sued by an unnamed 33-year-old podcast host in Arizona last month. For what, you may ask? The woman claimed she was pregnant with his twins after they had a one-night stand back in May of this year! When she told Clayton about the pregnancy, he didn’t believe he was the father as they allegedly “only had oral sex.”
Related: Bachelorette‘s Josh Seiter Enters Mental Health Facility After Death Hoax
The alleged soon-to-be mom then accused him of refusing multiple times to take a paternity test. And when they had one scheduled for August 23, the 30-year-old star never showed up for it. Wow. He has since denied the allegations, even showing receipts of him paying to take a paternity test on September 27. Clayton also accused the woman of making “nearly identical accusations” against “other individuals,” with those cases still being “publicly accessible and active.”
A wild situation, right? But after patiently waiting for the test results to come back, Clayton finally has an answer to this whole ordeal… He is NOT the father after all! He took to Instagram on Friday to share a video of himself ecstatically sharing the big announcement to his followers. Clayton said:
“Listen, it’s Friday and you know what we need on a Friday? We need some good news and who has got the good news today? I got the good news today. What’s that good news, Clayton? The test results came back early, and they said little to no fetal DNA present. Let’s go baby! We knew, I knew that was going to happen, and thankfully five months of torture can finally be put to rest.”
Referencing the allegations he also cheated on his ex-girlfriend Susie Evans last year, Clayton added:
“Two false accusations in two years — I really don’t want to look ahead to next year and see what’s going to happen. I think two false accusations in a lifetime is enough. Thank you all for the support, love. This has been a trying time, but I learned so much about myself and now back to the regularly scheduled program.”
Clayton seems pretty giddy about the news. We mean, he literally danced and shimmied at one point in the video! Lolz! See the clip (below):
At this time, the woman in the lawsuit hasn’t made a statement about the test results. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below!
[Image via Clayton Echard/Instagram, MEGA/WENN]