Katie Thurston hasn’t been shy about sharing her love for John Hersey with the world — and her former fiancé, Blake Moynes, has been equally open about his feelings on the relationship.
“I say, ‘I’m good,’ only because it’s been time,” the wildlife manager told Ben Higgins during an appearance on the “Almost Famous” podcast in February. “Time heals a lot of things and time just allows you to kind of reflect and just move past the mayhem that’s happened.”
In August 2021, Bachelor Nation watched Thurston accept a proposal from Moynes during the Season 17 finale of The Bachelorette. At the time, the couple were living in different countries — her in the United States and him in Canada — and the time apart began to take a toll on their relationship. By October 2021, they had officially ended their engagement and less than one month later, the former Bachelorette announced she had begun dating season 17 contestant Hersey, whom she remained close to after sending him home on week 2.
At the time, Moynes confessed that he “had no idea” that his ex was moving on and was blindsided by her confirmation of the relationship. “Everyone is asking questions like I have the answers. I don’t. I had no idea,” the Canada native said during a November 2021 episode of the “Talking It Out With Bachelor Nation” podcast. “When everyone heard this, I heard the exact same thing. There was speculation, I think, obviously, but I really thought there was no way just based on the timeline.”
He specifically took issue with the fact that Thurston chose to unveil her new romance through her “12 Days of Messy” social media posts, in which she assigned a Taylor Swift song to all of her Bachelorette contestants. “That’s what I have a hard time processing because this ‘12 Days of Messy’ — I didn’t sign up for but I was attached to [it] like all the other guys,” he explained. “It started 12 days ago, so I am sure she knew who Day 12 was and who it was going to be and why.”
Moynes continued: “So when I try to think about the breakup happening when it did, roughly a month ago, she probably had an idea 12 days after that or two weeks after that who was going to be No. 12 and how she was going to announce it.”
While he and Thurston initially kept in touch after their breakup, Moynes revealed in March 2022 that he hasn’t spoken to the former bank marketing manager since she and John made things official. “Emotions get the best of you. So, when I was upset and frustrated, I didn’t want to act in that moment,” the Bachelorette Season 16 alum told E! News. “I wasn’t ready to blow it up more than it was already blown up.”
Keep scrolling to see everything Moynes has said about his ex’s new relationship, from how he found out to moving on: