Red (Katie’s Version). Katie Thurston reminisced about her relationships from season 17 of The Bachelorette while listening to Taylor Swift’s new album, Red (Taylor’s Version).
The Grammy winner, 31, has dealt with plenty of speculation about the inspiration behind the mixture of breakup songs and love songs that make up the record, which was released on Friday, November 12. Many fans believe some of the key tracks — including the new 10-minute version of “All Too Well” — are based on Swift’s 2010 romance with Jake Gyllenhaal, though she has never confirmed the theory. Red originally dropped in October 2012 and is the most recent album to be rerecorded by the singer.
As for Thurston, 30, she also knows what it is like to date in the spotlight after starring on The Bachelorette earlier this year. A fan recently asked her via DM to “label ur contestants as songs on red,” and after an overwhelming majority agreed in a November 11 Instagram Story poll that she should do it, she began her “12 Days of Messy” challenge.
The reality star weathered her fair share of ups and downs while on the ABC show. Michael Allio left ahead of the hometown dates because of his son. He revealed during the Men Tell All in July that he would like to give the relationship another shot, but Thurston shot him down at the time.
Greg Grippo then exited after his hometown date and a blowup fight with the former bank marketing manager. She lashed out at him during the After the Final Rose special that aired in August, but she later divulged via Twitter that the exes had “spoken privately and moved on.”
After multiple surprise departures, Thurston got engaged to Blake Moynes during the August finale after he arrived late to her season. However, the pair announced their split in October after trying to make a long-distance relationship work.
Despite the public heartbreaks, the Washington native has not stopped searching for The One. “She’s still hopeful on finding love but wants to make sure her head is in the right space,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Right now, she’s just figuring out what she wants to do in life. In her mind, her future was with Blake, so now she just has to start fresh and figure out her next steps.”
For more hot celebrity news, listen to Us Weekly editors dish on top topics & trends with these clips from the Hot Hollywood Podcast!
Thurston chose to celebrate the last day of the challenge by teasing a potential romance with former contestant John Hersey. Following her “Begin Again” dedication to Hersey, who went home during week two, Us broke the news that the couple were dating.
Scroll through the gallery below to see which Swift songs Thurston assigned to her exes from The Bachelorette:
