Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth’s split after three years saddened much of Bachelor Nation, including former Bachelor Ben Higgins and former Bachelor contestant Ashley Iaconetti, who delved into the somber news on the latest episode of their podcast, “Almost Famous.”
Higgins, 29, said he had faith Bristowe, 33, and Booth, 31, would weather whatever issues they had. “I did know that there was trouble in paradise, but there always is on some level, right?” he said. “You never really believe that it could come true. I was there for this whole love story … and I really thought they were meant to be.”
“Me, too,” Iaconetti, 30, chimed in. “I truly still believe, honestly, that they’re soulmates. I feel like they are … Maybe I’m just an optimist, but I really do hope that they split and realize how much they miss each other. Because watching them on TV and in person together, you’re just like, ‘That’s electric. That’s goals.’ Honestly, [fiancé Jared Haibon] and I have always named them as the couple that … we always wanted to be like. Because they were so fun and playful together, and you just felt the magic around them. That’s something special. That’s not your average couple.”
Bristowe and Booth, whose engagement was televised on The Bachelor in July 2015, announced their breakup in a joint statement to Us Weekly on Friday, November 2. “We have decided to go our separate ways,” the couple said. “This difficult decision comes after thoughtful, respectful consideration. Even though we are parting as a couple, we’re very much committed to remaining friends.”
On the podcast, Iaconetti told Higgins she saw warning signs on social media. “I obviously sensed trouble — as even most fans did — because [Bristowe and Booth] just really stopped liking each other’s stuff on Instagram,” she explained. “I know it sounds stupid, but they did. They stopped posting with each other. And maybe that wouldn’t have been weird if they hadn’t been a couple that was always posting about each other before whenever [the] trouble came about.”
The Bachelor in Paradise alum also had a theory about what predicated the breakup. “This is just my personal opinion — I could be totally off — but I feel like they’ve gotten lost a bit in work,” she mused. “I think both of them have a lot of separate things going around. He has his business, she has her podcast and, like, a zillion other things. And I just feel like they let work get the best of them, and they were spending so much time apart that they weren’t finding ways to reconnect with each other. They just didn’t have enough time. They were not living a life that was conducive to having a romantic personal relationship.”
Iaconetti doesn’t know if Bristowe will return to reality TV — “I think fans would love to see Kaitlyn as the next Bachelorette, but I don’t know that the show would do that again” — and she knows her friend has logistical concerns to work out in the meantime.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with their house or their dog,” she said. “Because, man, is Kaitlyn attached to that dog, you know? They have to have joint custody of that dog.”
Meanwhile, both Iaconetti and Higgins have their fingers crossed that Bristowe and Booth might reunite one day.
Explained Higgins, “I don’t want to give up hope. This is still something that can work. But I know this is something that’s really none of our business. I’ve been through this. And all I can say is, I’ll reach out to Shawn.” (Higgins and Lauren Bushnell, his Bachelor winner, ended their engagement in May 2017.)
“All of this is so sad, Ash,” he concluded. “[These are] the moments that we don’t like doing the podcast, but we have to do it.”
