It’s not lost on Kaitlyn Bristowe that ex-fiancé Jason Tartick has dated several women with very similar names.
“Going from Kaitlyn to Kat to Kathryn — you got to pick the nice one,” Bristowe, 41, said during the Tuesday, July 14 episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “We were both spicy.”
While Bristowe didn’t name anyone specifically, she hinted at both Tartick’s previous relationships and current romance.
Bristowe and Tartick were together for two years when he proposed in 2021. Two years later, the former couple called off their engagement. Tartick moved on with Kat Stickler, whom he dated for six months until their October 2024 split.
“I’ve always loved Kat,” Bristowe said of Stickler, 31. “I’ve followed her for so long. Now, did I have to unfollow [her] when they were posting like every two seconds?”
Bristowe noted that she and Stickler have never spoken about their mutual ex.
“She’d probably tell me everything I already know,” the Bachelorette alum said.
Bristowe also spoke candidly about Tartick’s current relationship with Kathryn Hurley. (Tartick and Hurley, 35, announced their engagement hours before the Tuesday episode dropped.)
“She seems lovely,” Bristowe said before praising Hurley for founding Wags & Walks Rescue in Nashville. “I’m all for the dogs, and she seems like an angel, and I love that.”
The former ABC star revealed the one thing about Tartick’s new romance that is still bothersome.
“I am, of course, over the relationship in every different way. What I still hold on to, that I really need to let go of, is that it’s this person that told me a certain thing,” she recalled. “Nashville did not benefit him professionally or financially. So, the fact that, then, he chooses that as home.”
Bristowe and Tartick lived together in Nashville during their relationship. She moved to New York City earlier this year.
While it’s unclear what exactly prompted Bristowe’s move, fans have speculated that a rumored romance with fellow Bachelorette alum Zac Clark is the likely cause.
Bristowe has been romantically linked to Clark, 42, since January 2024. Neither have ever publicly confirmed their relationship. Bristowe said on Tuesday that leaving their relationship status vague is intentional.
“I think it’s definitely a trauma response,” she said of her decision to keep some things private, noting that she and her therapist have discussed how her “last two relationships were so public,” which allowed her to try something different.
“It’s been so sweet,” Bristowe said. “I’m just trying to protect this little bubble, right now, of peace.”
