ABC/Craig Sjodin Tayshia Adams is the lead of 'The Bachelorette.'
Tayshia Adams first mentioned her previous marriage when she appeared on season 23 of The Bachelor, and it’s unsurprisingly come up multiple times during The Bachelorette. With Adams’ time as the show’s lead nearing its end, her ex-husband, Josh Bourelle, appeared on Reality Steve’s podcast to defend himself against his portrayal on ABC. His attempt to rewrite the narrative fell flat, though.
Adams revealed earlier on The Bachelorette that Bourelle cheated during their marriage. She also said on The Viall Files that, despite his infidelity, she “didn’t want to get divorced.” It was Bourelle who made the decision to end the relationship.
Not only did Bourelle not refute those assertions on the podcast, he confirmed both, despite claiming that Adams was using her stage to “twist and manipulate the truth.” Bourelle told Reality Steve that a few factors — including a lack of intimacy, frustrations with Adams’ work ethic, and her “coasting” through the marriage — led to him cheating “a little bit out of spite.”
“She went out of town, I went out with some buddies, met someone, did this thing, and when she came back from her trip, I came clean about it,” Bourelle said. “I felt terrible, it was an immense amount of guilt on my shoulders for what I did, but it also made me realize that I was wasting my time. Eventually because I did what I did, she wanted to put forth some effort. We went to therapy, but after a few months of therapy, I kind of came to the conclusion that my heart was not in it anymore and I didn’t want to be married to her.”
Bourelle vented his frustrations on the podcast, and called Adams a hypocrite for talking about his cheating while dating multiple men on The Bachelor.
“Quit using one thing that happened in our relationship as a sob story to make people feel bad for you,” Bourelle said. “You’re calling me a cheater yet you’re dating 25 different guys at the same time.
“We’re humans. She made just as many mistakes, maybe even more mistakes than I did over the course of our relationship. And it would be refreshing for her to actually own up to that a little bit.”
Josh Bourelle Confirmed He Won’t Appear on The Bachelorette
ABCTensions rose on The Bachelorette when Noah Erb told Tayshia Adams that men were questioning her intentions.
In November, a rumor took off that Bourelle would make an appearance on The Bachelorette after a TikTok user noticed his name on closed captions for the show. Adams shot down that rumor and asked everyone to leave Bourelle alone.
“The fact that we’re mostly talking about my past relationship of three years ago, I don’t understand,” Adams said on her Instagram story. “He’s living his life. I’m living my life. You have plenty of other people who have signed up to be researched and talked about. He never signed up for it, so why don’t we leave him alone and talk about something that actually matters.”
Bourelle told Reality Steve that he got a text from Adams following that incident to apologize for his name coming up, although he said it sounded like it was drafted by a lawyer, not Adams. He also said he has zero interest in appearing on the show and he was annoyed his name appeared on the closed captions without his consent.
Both Josh Bourelle & Reality Steve Are Taking Heat for the Podcast
Listeners were unimpressed with Bourelle’s attempt to spin his infidelity into something that Adams deserves blame for. They were also annoyed that Bourelle was given the platform by Reality Steve to air his grievances.
Plenty of listeners bashed the episode of the podcast shortly after it was released:
@RealitySteve So in conclusion Tayshia did NOTHING wrong. U allowed this man to come on ur podcast &bash her for nothing. HE cheated &blamed it on her. He sounds like a manipulative gas lighter. I think hes a worse person than I did b4 so congrats &I lost respect for u giving him that platform
If Bourelle’s goal was to boost his reputation by providing his side of the story, it seems as though he missed the mark.
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