'Bachelorette' star Blake Moynes believes Greg was 'gaslighting' Katie Thurston during their explosive breakup
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Blake Moynes told Insider he agrees Greg Grippo did "gaslight" Katie Thurston during their breakup.
Thurston got engaged to Moynes on "The Bachelorette" finale shortly after Grippo left the show.
Moynes said he believes his and Thurston's love story was overshadowed by the drama with Grippo.
Another season of "The Bachelorette" has come and gone, but Bachelor Nation still can't stop talking about Katie Thurston and Greg Grippo's explosive breakup.
And Blake Moynes, who got engaged to Thurston on Monday's season finale, told Insider that he agrees with fans who believe that Grippo was "gaslighting" her during their split.
"I think there was some gaslighting there," Moynes said. "Am I an expert on knowing exactly what gaslighting is, am I the one to make the statement that this is 100% gaslighting? Hard for me to say. I don't think he approached the situation the right way, and I think that was very clear."
Grippo was a clear frontrunner during Thurston's season until everything came crashing down when he said "I love you" after their hometown date.
Thurston's response, which Grippo found lacking, kicked off one of the biggest fights in the franchise's history. Grippo left the show early and Thurston threatened to quit before giving her final rose to Moynes.
"I expressed that I do love you. I felt like I was telling that to a stranger," Grippo told Thurston before leaving. "I was thinking that I was expressing my love to my future wife, and you didn't even feel it. You just completely dismissed it in my eyes."
Moynes told Insider that the fight reminded him of confrontations he saw as a child.
"I do think that growing up in a household where my mom was victim to a lot of the things that Greg came down on Katie for on a regular basis - I can see what that can do to somebody and how it can become a cycle, a crazy cycle that it's hard to break out of," he said. "I do think there was some gaslighting there."
Gaslighting was a term that many "Bachelor" fans tweeted after the fight aired, and Thurston used the word as well when she confronted Grippo on the "After the Final Rose" special.
"The way you spoke to me, you think that's okay?" she said, claiming that Grippo had just been acting like he loved her for the cameras. "Gaslighting is when you try to make someone else feel like it's their fault. You came at me and tried to make it seem like I did something so horrible that you had to leave."
Gaslighting, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is the "attempt to make (someone) believe that he or she is going insane (as by subjecting that person to a series of experiences that have no rational explanation)."
Bachelor Nation fans have continued to debate over and take sides in the fight. While Grippo, now a rumored frontrunner to lead the next "Bachelor," initially defended his response during his "After the Final Rose" appearance, he later told former "Bachelor" Nick Viall on "The Viall Files" podcast that he was "ashamed" of how he reacted and said he'd "acted like an ass."
Overall, Moynes told Insider that he does believe the argument has overshadowed his own love story with Thurston.
"It sucks that it was such a focal point for someone who didn't actually end up with her, but I do feel like it took away from our story and our love," he said.
"But it's not about that right? Who cares about the viewers? We know what we have, and that's kind of what we're riding on, especially coming out of this and finally being able to live a real life now," Moynes added.
Read the original article on Insider
