Shawn Booth wasn’t acting like a man who was preparing to walk down the aisle weeks before he and Kaitlyn Bristowe confirmed their split, a source tells Us Weekly exclusively.
“He had flirty eyes and was definitely talking to a bunch of chicks,” a source claims to Us about Booth’s behavior at a Michelob Ultra fitness retreat in Arizona last month. “He definitely didn’t seem like he was engaged.”
The source adds when “a couple of people asked him” about his then-rumored relationship trouble, he “brushed it off.”
Us confirmed on Friday, November 2, that Booth, 31, and Bristowe, 33, called it quits after three years together.
“After three incredible years, we have decided to go our separate ways. This difficult decision comes after thoughtful, respectful consideration,” the pair said in a joint statement to Us. “Even though we are parting as a couple, we’re very much committed to remaining friends. We have both evolved as people, which is taking us in different directions, but with the hope that we will continue to support each other in new ways. Due to the nature of how we met, our relationship has always been very public, and we have enjoyed sharing it with all of you, but we ask that you respect our decision and our privacy at this time.”
The news came after months of fan speculation that the twosome broke up sparked by the former Bachelorette ditching her engagement ring. Insiders also previously noted to Us that the pair, who got engaged in 2015 during the season 11 finale, were never seen together in recent months.
Back in August, the the reality TV personality shut down split rumors on an episode of her “Off the Vine” podcast.
“Shawn and I are 110 percent committed to each other and, yes, we are still together,” Bristowe said during the August 16 episode of “Off the Vine.” “If you’ve ever been a person who is running a successful brand or business and a person who is doing the same but in a different career path, you know times can be tough. You are both always away, you’re exhausted at the end of the day, sometimes the relationship isn’t being put first, but does that mean you call it quits? No. You love the s–t out of each other and you work through it — and yourselves to be better. And you know that times aren’t always going to be smooth sailing. … You just have to get through those hurdles and enjoy the good times.”
Booth never spoke out about their rumored break up, but spoke to Us in May about why they hadn’t tied the knot yet.
“We have our own stride with how we want to take our relationship from the show out into the real world and it really has been an adjustment from life on the show to life here in Nashville, but we’ve always been on the same page, we click like that,” he told Us at the time. “We’ve been normal and want to keep that normalcy. It blows my mind when people ask ‘Why haven’t you gotten married?!’ Because we’ve been together for three years and I’d like to see the timeline on people’s relationships and engagements who are asking us. Being together for three years without getting married doesn’t seem strange to me.”
