A little insight. Bachelor in Paradise alum Natasha Parker spoke to Maurissa Gunn about her recent split from fiancé Riley Christian, and she learned a bit more about why the duo split.
“I finally talked to Maurissa the other day,” the event planner, 33, said during the Thursday, January 27, episode of her “Click Bait With Bachelor Nation” podcast. “She did clarify they broke up a little while ago.”
The attorney, 32, and the Montana native, 25, announced their split in a joint statement on January 24, three months after their engagement aired during the Bachelor in Paradise season 7 finale.
“We have decided to go our separate ways,” the duo said. “Never did we imagine this, but we’ve come to a point where we both need to work on ourselves. “We’ve appreciated everyone’s love and support so far throughout our journey and we just ask that you please respect our privacy as we navigate through this.”
Rumors about their relationship status had been swirling for weeks, but according to Parker, the duo held off making an announcement because they “wanted to know for sure” that they were ready to call it quits. As for why they broke up, however, the Bachelor season 24 alum could only speculate.
“[Maurissa] was just saying how there was so much that happened between them that they kind of just wanted to keep it between each other,” she explained. “I think that they just have very different lives, at least from my understanding of what she was saying. She completely integrated into his life and I think that she kind of missed her family, she missed her friends.”
The patient care coordinator had moved from Atlanta to join Christian in New York City. Parker added that the “distance” from Montana may have contributed to the split, as Gunn’s family still lived in the western state.
“Moving to New York is not easy,” the podcast cohost added. “It’s just not an easy thing. It’s a hard city if you’re not used to it.”
Parker also compared Gunn and Christian to the other couples who got engaged during season 7 of BiP, noting that they moved in together very quickly, Her cohost Joe Amabile and his fiancée, Serena Pitt, meanwhile, are still deciding where they want to live.
“You guys are figuring it out and you spend a lot of time together,” Parker told the Chicago native, 35. “But [Maurissa] went full throttle. She put her all in and it didn’t work out. She told me she has no regrets, and I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
Before their split, Gunn told Us Weekly that she wasn’t sure Christian was going to propose at all until it actually happened.
“The whole time we were standing there, I’m like, ‘OK, well, I’m about to be embarrassed, we’re about to walk out together,'” she said in October 2021. “I told him the night before. I was like, ‘No matter what I want to be with you, I support your decision, like, we can leave together.’ I just didn’t want to walk out on a podium and get embarrassed.”
