The Bachelorette star Tayshia Adams praised Katie Thurston for standing up to Greg Grippo on the After The Final Rose special following their explosive breakup.
Previous Bachelorette leads Tayshia and Kaitlyn Britowe served as co-hosts for Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette.
Both Tayshia and Kaitlyn have been in Katie’s shoes and, like any lead, have received a mixture of praise and criticism.
Tayshia Adams stands by Katie Thurston
Both appeared on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast to reflect on Katie’s dramatic season and specifically addressed her fight with Greg Grippo that has Bachelor Nation torn.
“I think even Kaitlyn said something we both noticed the second Katie stepped on stage that there was just a lot of tension. And I think it’s also because, at one point, these two people really cared about each other,” Tayshia said of being on stage with Katie and Greg during After The Final Rose.
Then, Tayshia took a moment to honor Katie’s bravery.
“But also, I really wanted to commend Katie for sticking up for herself and really just … letting Greg know, like, how his actions affected her,” Tayshia stated.
Tayshia noted that it was an important moment to see Katie be able to voice her opinion — whether viewers agreed with her or not.
“I think that that was a really empowering moment just for women in general, just to know that, like, ‘Hey, I need to share my truth and, like, this is how I felt in that moment and you abandoned me,’” Tayshia added.
What went down between Katie Thurston and Greg Grippo on ATFR?
Katie Thurston and Greg Grippo’s breakup may go down in Bachelor history as one of the most dramatic yet.
Katie and Greg’s breakup took place on the episode during hometown dates. Katie met Greg’s family, which went seemingly well, but everything shifted when they got a moment to themselves.
Greg expected Katie to tell him she loved him before he proposed.
However, it’s often against Bachelorette protocol to declare feelings before there’s one contestant left and Katie had already made it clear that she wasn’t going to share her love for any of the men until there was just one left standing.
When Greg gave his emotional speech, Katie responded with, “I love looking at you,” which set Greg off.
Katie tried to apologize, not fully understanding what she did wrong, but Greg couldn’t get over how “cold” she was to him and claimed she wasn’t being real.
The two reunited for the first time when they appeared on the After The Final Rose finale special.
Katie had a new perspective on the instance and instead of apologizing, she layed into Greg, calling him out for “gaslighting” her and using The Bachelorette to boost his acting career.
While Tayshia feels that the way Katie talked to Greg was empowering, not all viewers felt that way. Bachelor Nation is about split in half on whether Katie or Greg was in the wrong.
Bachelor in Paradise returns to ABC on Monday, August 16 at 8/7c.