Kaitlyn Bristowe Says the 'Door Isn't Permanently Closed' with Ex-Fiancé Jason Tartick
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The former Bachelorette, who confirmed the end of her two-year engagement on Sunday, said she and her former fiancé still "respect each other and love each other"
A reconciliation between Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick isn’t completely off the table.
Days after the couple ended their engagement, the former Bachelorette, 38, acknowledged she's in the midst of some “tough times” right now but remains open to the possibility of patching things up with Tartick, 34.
“Honestly, it was both of our [decision to end the relationship],” Bristowe told TMZ. “We keep saying, too, that the door isn’t permanently closed — that’s why there’s handles on it. We don’t know what’s going on.”
“The easiest part is that we respect each other and love each other,” she added. “We’re OK.”
When asked if she and Tartick “grew out of love,” the Off the Vine podcast host responded, “I don’t even know.”
One thing that is certain is that Bristowe and Tartick are “sharing” their dogs Ramen and Pinot after their split. “We’re coparenting the dogs,” she explained. “You could even see us walking the dogs together on a Sunday. We’re still good.”
The exes, who got engaged in May 2021, announced in a joint Instagram post over the weekend that they were going their separate ways.
"After sharing the news with family and close friends first, and taking the time to properly process it ourselves, we are saddened with heavy hearts to share that we have decided to end our engagement," their statement began. "We are thankful for all of you who gave us the time and space to process this life altering decision as there are many emotions and changes to navigate."
After noting how Ramen and Pinot would "continue to be cared for together as brothers," the former pair added, "While their humans are no longer romantically involved, we will love and take care of them together."
"Continuing our friendship is incredibly important to both of us. 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," they added. "We are beyond thankful for the memories made together, and for your support of us and the boys throughout the years. Moving forward we will always have that level of support for each other. We don’t know what the future holds so please try to hold space for us in your hearts."
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After sharing she would be taking some time away from social media, Bristowe opened up about how she's choosing to cope with her broken engagement publicly amid rising fan interest on the latest episode of her Off the Vine podcast.
"Having to also be in the public eye and come out with a statement for everybody is so crazy to me, but [it] also gives me the opportunity for them to understand it and then start to move on because otherwise, it just keeps going," she began.
"I want to do all the things that I've learned over the last 11 years of therapy. So I got this like poster board. And last night, I wrote a target like that just keeps getting bigger."
"I did the middle circle. The main one, I put 'Jason and Kaitlyn.' Those are the two people that matter through this right now," she continued. "And then on the outside, it's like our family. And then outside of that is like our really closest friends. And then outside of that is like, gosh, I don't know if you're close to your cousin or whatever. But outside of that, I can't let that come into this. I can't answer to it. I can't take that on as responsibility for their feelings."
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