So, Clare Crawley Clearly Has a Lot of Conflicting Feelings About Her "Messy" Breakup with Dale Moss
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Clare Crawley and Dale Moss have been a *saga*. They fell for each other fast and she ended up blowing up her season of The Bachelorette and ending her televised love journey after just 12 days, accepting a proposal from Dale and peacing out for her happily ever after.
Except, as anyone in Bachelor Nation knows, Clare and Dale's love story did not end in happily ever after. In fact, the ending was more Shakespearean tragedy than rose-tinted rom-com. The couple split for the second (and, by all accounts, final) time in September and the drama included rumors that he was hooking up with fellow Bach Nation alum Abigail Heringer during the relationship and reports that Clare had gone nuclear and fully blocked his number.
This week, Clare appeared on Jana Kramer's podcast, Whine Down to discuss her feelings about Dale, their relationship, and the breakup. The biggest takeaway was that Clare has a *lot* of feelings about all of the above and that those feelings are really a mixed bag.
Here's a little taste of the many emotions of Clare when it comes to the whole Dale drama.
She regrets everything from trusting the Bachelorette love system to trusting Dale personally—but also has no regrets about loving the relationship and also her "deep love" for him hasn't gone away overnight.
"My biggest regret is trusting the process, trusting a man — a man's words and who he showed me he was," she said (per People). "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."
The breakup was messy and she wishes people knew both sides of the story—but she also doesn't really want her side of the story to be out there, TBH.
"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."
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."
It's painful that the relationship ended and she wishes there could have been a sit down conversation for closure—but the fact she didn't get her closure convo kind of is the closure.
"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 … Maybe that is the closure."
Is a lot of that very contradictory? Yep. Are the feelings we go through during a really difficult, painful breakup ever simple or linear or not a little (or a lot) contradictory? Nope. The fact that Clare's feelings are all over the place in the wake of the breakup is probably the most normal, down-to-earth thing about her entire relationship with Dale, TBH.
Here's another contradiction about the breakup for you, but it's the most hopeful and relatable contradiction to feel during a devastating split. Ready for it? Here we go:
Clare is openly, deeply heartbroken about the way things ended with Dale:
"The one that gets me is, how do you say goodbye to somebody you never wanted to walk away from? Like 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."
But she's also openly, deeply optimistic about what the future holds for her:
"It's my biggest flex, my comeback game....The things that have been the most challenging in my life are what propelled me to be the strongest woman that I am. That's where I dig deep and it hurts, and it's painful to go through those things, but that's where I source my strength.…I refuse to give up on myself, because I know my worth, and I know what I bring to the table."
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