Months after her split from ex-fiance Nayte Olukoya, former Bachelorette Michelle Young has finally opened up about the end of the relationship.
“It was my dream ring,” Young said of the 3-carat pear-shaped sparkler that Olukoya gave her on the December 2021 Season 18 finale of The Bachelorette.
Although she was “willing to put in work for the relationship,” Young continued, she “had the person take off.”
After less than a year together, she and Olukoya announced their split in June 2022.
It was later revealed that Olukoya, a 28-year-old aspiring model from Manitoba, Canada, had broken up with Young over the phone.
“I know what it looks like to work through a relationship,” the former Bachelorette said on a recent episode of the podcast Almost Famous. “But both people have to be capable of doing that.”
Michelle Young was ‘deeply hurt’ by her split from Nayte Olukoya
Bachelor Nation watched Young and Olukoya’s love story unfold on Season 18 of The Bachelorette.
The Canadian suitor made a strong impression from the outset, even winning Young’s first impression rose on the season premiere.
Olukoya ended up winning the final rose as well, cementing his and Young’s engagement.
Viewers were shocked when the couple announced via Instagram Stories last year that they had broken up.
“Having a relationship in the public eye has not been easy,” Young wrote at the time, adding that she was “deeply hurting” and would need “time and space.”
Former Bachelorette Michelle Young opens up about her breakup
In the months since their announcement, Young hasn’t shared many details about the end of the relationship.
But on a September 2022 episode of The Bachelor alum Nick Viall’s Viall Files podcast, Olukoya revealed that he had been the one to pull the plug – which he did over the phone.
Calling the relationship “rocky,” Olukoya claimed that the couple had started having doubts within weeks of the finale airing.
Still, Young described feeling “blindsided” by the painful breakup.
The happiness she’d felt with Olukoya was “literally… stripped away from me,” she told podcast host Ashley Iaconetti.
But the former Bachelorette also isn’t ready to completely give up on love. “I can’t wait to do it, like, for real this next time,” Young said on the podcast.
And whoever she ends up with will have to figure out a different cut of diamond, as she’s shared, “pear-shaped ain’t happening anymore!”
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.