Everything Bachelorette Tayshia Adams Has Said About Her Ex-Husband Josh Bourelle, Divorce

Credit: ABC/Kwaku Alston

Everything Bachelorette Tayshia Adams Has Said About Her Ex-Husband Josh Bourelle, Divorce

Before Bachelor Nation met Tayshia Adams, she was married to her college sweetheart, Josh Bourelle. “I actually married my first boyfriend, and I was with him for about six years or so. I guess I could, kind of, sense we weren’t doing very well,” Adams told Colton Underwood on season 23 of The Bachelor, which aired in 2019. “And I think that’s why I fought so hard just to try to do as much as I possibly could [to save the marriage].” Bourelle filed for divorce from Adams in October 2017, less than two years after their February 2016 wedding. The roofer cited irreconcilable differences. In their divorce documents, Bourelle claimed that the pair had been “living separate lives” since August 21, 2017. “The date of separation is 1 year and 6 months from the date of their marriage,” the docs state. “They are now agreed and intend to live apart permanently.” After a stint on Underwood’s season, Adams went on to appear on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise. While she had connections with Derek Peth and John Paul Jones, Adams was single by October 2019 when she and Jones called it quits for good. In August 2020, news broke that Adams was taking over for Clare Crawley on season 16 of The Bachelorette because the hairstylist fell in love with Dale Moss within the first two weeks of filming. [jwplayer yzL1PeTE-l3ahXupL] “It’s not hard at all [to talk about the divorce on The Bachelorette] because it’s definitely something that I’ve experienced in the past and it led me to today,” she told Us Weekly ahead of her November 2020 debut on the series. “But I don’t want it to define me because it doesn’t define me. It’s just something that I grew from and I learned from.” Adams added that her past relationship affected her journey as the Bachelorette. “Having been married before, I feel like … I’m not just going to do anything just to do something. I’m not going to do it because I feel like I need to or do this and that. I’m going to do it because it’s the right thing to do, and I’m excited and happy,” she told Us at the time. “If it were to happen, it’d be with the right sentiment.” Scroll through for more on Adams’ divorce: Hear the Us Weekly editors break down the most surprising celebrity births during the pandemic in under 2 minutes!

Credit: ABC/Kwaku Alston

Everything Bachelorette Tayshia Adams Has Said About Her Ex-Husband Josh Bourelle, Divorce

Before Bachelor Nation met Tayshia Adams, she was married to her college sweetheart, Josh Bourelle. “I actually married my first boyfriend, and I was with him for about six years or so. I guess I could, kind of, sense we weren’t doing very well,” Adams told Colton Underwood on season 23 of The Bachelor, which aired in 2019. “And I think that’s why I fought so hard just to try to do as much as I possibly could [to save the marriage].” Bourelle filed for divorce from Adams in October 2017, less than two years after their February 2016 wedding. The roofer cited irreconcilable differences. In their divorce documents, Bourelle claimed that the pair had been “living separate lives” since August 21, 2017. “The date of separation is 1 year and 6 months from the date of their marriage,” the docs state. “They are now agreed and intend to live apart permanently.” After a stint on Underwood’s season, Adams went on to appear on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise. While she had connections with Derek Peth and John Paul Jones, Adams was single by October 2019 when she and Jones called it quits for good. In August 2020, news broke that Adams was taking over for Clare Crawley on season 16 of The Bachelorette because the hairstylist fell in love with Dale Moss within the first two weeks of filming. [jwplayer yzL1PeTE-l3ahXupL] “It’s not hard at all [to talk about the divorce on The Bachelorette] because it’s definitely something that I’ve experienced in the past and it led me to today,” she told Us Weekly ahead of her November 2020 debut on the series. “But I don’t want it to define me because it doesn’t define me. It’s just something that I grew from and I learned from.” Adams added that her past relationship affected her journey as the Bachelorette. “Having been married before, I feel like … I’m not just going to do anything just to do something. I’m not going to do it because I feel like I need to or do this and that. I’m going to do it because it’s the right thing to do, and I’m excited and happy,” she told Us at the time. “If it were to happen, it’d be with the right sentiment.” Scroll through for more on Adams’ divorce: Hear the Us Weekly editors break down the most surprising celebrity births during the pandemic in under 2 minutes!

Credit: ABC/Kwaku Alston

Telling Colton

“Being a Christian woman, you get married once and that’s gonna be it. You know, you expect that from your partner as well,” Adams told Underwood on season 23. “But you can’t make someone want to be married, you know? It’s the toughest thing I’ve gone through, and I think that’s what’s made me so strong and fearless.”

Credit: Shutterstock; Inset: Courtesy of D&J Roofing Inc./Instagram

The Divorce Wasn’t Her Choice

“Just to get the record straight, I didn’t want to get divorced. I was in it for the long haul,” she dished on “Viall Files” podcast in April 2019. “I mean, I’m well aware that relationships have their hardships and you’re not always gonna love that person or like that person every single day. It’s a thing you need to continuously work on. I know you gotta try as hard as you can, and that’s what I did.”

Credit: ABC; Courtesy of D&J Roofing Inc./Instagram

Feeling Pressure to Make It Work

“I felt a lot of pressure to make sure that my marriage worked, so at the same time, I made sure to do everything I needed to do in order to know that I did everything I could at the end of the day. It definitely was scary to tell my parents it’s just not working out,” Adams said on the “Help! I Suck at Dating” podcast in 2019.

Credit: Shutterstock; Inset: Courtesy of D&J Roofing Inc./Instagram

Going to a Counselor

Adams revealed on her “Click Bait” podcast in October 2020 that she and Bourelle went to therapy before they split.

"My opinion is you try to work it out as much as you possibly can," she said. "When things were getting really bad, we were like, ‘OK, we need to go see a counselor. ‘Actually, that was my doing, because I knew I needed to do absolutely everything in order to know that was the end of the road."

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

Can’t Force Love

“You kind of walk through some things and you try as hard as you can, but you can't force someone to love you," she said about her ex on “Click Bait” in October 2020. "So, if you do that for a couple of months, and it's still not working, you're trying to do everything you can and the other person's not  … You have got to go your own separate way."

Credit: ABC; Inset: Courtesy of D&J Roofing Inc./Instagram

Not in Touch Pre-'Bachelorette'

It was clear in the supertease for Adams’ season that her divorce was going to be a topic on the show. She told Us in November 2020, however, that she hasn’t heard from Bourelle.

“Oh my gosh, no, I have not,” she told Us. “And even if I have, I'm on cloud nine right now, just let a girl live!”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

Bonding With Brendan

During a November 2020 episode of The Bachelorette, Adams got candid about her divorce while chatting with contestant Brendan Morais, who was also married before the show.

“I married a guy that I met in college. I also had lost myself in my marriage, like my identity was him. But unfortunately, it was infidelity and other issues — not on my part — and then we got divorced and I too felt like I failed,” she said. “I too felt embarrassed and ashamed and that fear of, ‘Our parents going to be upset, our friends are going to be upset.’ So, I know exactly what you mean.”

Credit: ABC; Inset: Courtesy of D&J Roofing Inc./Instagram

Not Going to Happen

Adams shut down a fan theory that Bourelle was going to appear on season 16 after an ABC promo identified a man’s voice as her ex-husband in November 2020.

“Don’t forget to stretch before you reach,” she commented on an Instagram post about the situation at the time. “CAN WE MOVE ON PLEASE AND STOP REACHING!!! Leave him alone this [is] about my journey and not my past!”

On her Instagram Stories, Adams added, “I am dating 20 men on ABC, every single week, so the fact that we are continuously talking about my past relationship that was I don’t know, three years ago, I don’t get understand it. … He’s living his life, I’m living my life. … Why don’t we leave him alone?”

Credit: ABC; Inset: Courtesy D&J Roofing Inc./Instagram

Reaching Out

After the promo scandal, Bourelle revealed on the “Reality Steve” podcast that Adams texted him — and he read the message to the blogger.

“Basically, it was you know, ‘Just called to talk about a stupid incident that showed up on a media promo. I just found out about it and I am livid because there is no reason for you to ever be brought up in any of this. I’ve never once said your name and I’ve always made it known that none of this has anything to do with you and have always protected any personal information,”’ he said. “I mean yeah, she’s never said my name, she’s just said my ex and it’s very easy to figure out who I am. Just type in Google Tayshia Adams' ex-husband and I’ll pop right up!"

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

What She’s Learned

“I got married at a young age and the divorce was his decision. It was something I fought for, but I feel like, at the end of the day, it wasn’t the right relationship,” Adams told contestant Ivan’s father during the hometown dates, which aired in December 2020. “God wanted to teach me other things.”