It’s a small world … and an even smaller world in Bachelor Nation. Peter Weber’s ex-girlfriend Merissa Pence opened up about her past friendship with Victoria Fuller exclusively with Us Weekly — and it’s safe to say she’s not a fan of the Bachelor front-runner.
Merissa dated Peter, 28, for five months in 2012. “We had a great relationship,” she told Us. “It was casual and I got to meet his parents and his brother and we would just, like, hang out at his parents’ house and go out to lunch or dinner or whatever. We were friends for quite a while after [our breakup], but then I was in a serious relationship and Peter had started dating someone else as well, so we really didn’t chat too much.”
Years later, Merissa met Victoria, 25, through mutual friends.
“We became friends when I moved back from Los Angeles about three years ago,” Merissa told Us. “Our first encounter was that she told me she was going to slash my tires because I was hanging out with one of her ex-boyfriends.”
While the two women didn’t hit it off right away, they continued to run in the same social circles.
“Virginia Beach is a pretty small town. As time went on, I became friends with a girl who was best friends with Victoria,” she explained. “And so we all kind of started hanging out and it just became more of like a forced friendship vs like … I wouldn’t, like, voluntarily go hang out with her.”
Once Merissa learned that Victoria might be one of the contestants on Peter’s season, things took another turn.
“Obviously I had my moment because I’m like, you could possibly be with my ex-boyfriend and that’s a little weird, but like, I never asked her not to go on the show or anything because that’s silly,” she told Us. “But we went out one night for our friend Audrey’s birthday and it turned into the Victoria Fuller show because it was three weeks out that she was about to leave for The Bachelor and she just became a very self-centered person and we were all out for our friend’s birthday and she was just acting crazy. Just wanting all the attention and it was very distasteful.”
Even before the season started taping, fame went to Victoria’s head, according to Merissa.
“She’s like, ‘Do you know who I am?’ And I was just like, ‘Where is this coming from?’ So that just really rubbed me the wrong way,” she explained. “And from then on … I told our mutual friend, I was like, ‘Look, I’m never going to hang out with her again. She’s crazy. She literally has no respect for anybody around her and I just don’t want to be associated with that.’”
While Victoria claimed to be shy on the show, Merissa told Us that she believes the medical sales rep is putting on an act on the reality series.
“If there is a guy she wants, she’s like, ‘He’s mine.’ There is a one-way street there and nobody else is getting involved,” she told Us. “She just thinks that the world revolves around her and she’s the hottest thing that’s ever hit this planet. And actually the most disturbing thing so far of all of this was the lingerie episode that she just acted like she was this coy person. The people in Virginia Beach are even seeing that that’s not you at all. You’re always the one in the bar wanting attention.”
Victoria has yet to publicly comment on her friendship with Merissa, but she previously fired back at “rumors” circulating about her online. “There will be a time & place where I can defend myself, but for now I choose to wait,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “HOWEVER, bullying is NOT ok. Nor is it fair. Especially when casting judgement and basing opinions upon pure speculation, assumptions, & LIES.”
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