A sign of the end — or the beginning of a new chapter? After relocating to Virginia Beach with Susie Evans following season 26 of The Bachelor, Clayton Echard gave a surprising update on their next steps.
“We’re like, ‘We don’t know if it’s going to be a month-long [relationship] from here or if it’s gonna be lifetime but, like, there’s no pressure. Let’s just love each other and be thankful,’” the 29-year-old ABC star recently said on Dear Media’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “We’re very, very happy right now and in a really great spot, but yeah, we went through it — together, though. Thankfully, she’s been on my side and that’s the only reason why I can sit here with so much positivity is because of her.”
Echard explained that he’s moving back to Scottsdale, Arizona, while Evans spends time in Los Angeles.
“Currently, we are in Virginia Beach, but our next step actually is, I’m moving to Scottsdale, and she’s going to move in the interim to L.A. Only a 50-minute flight apart, but we’re both chasing our dreams, and I think location-wise, we both feel that those are the spots that we want to be,” he said. “I mean, I’m working on my computer 10, 12 hours a day. So she was like, ‘Clayton, I’ll move to L.A. and then we can travel on the weekends to see each other.’ And we’ll see. We don’t know if we’re going to like that long-distance.”
While the former football player noted, “People might look at us like, ‘Oh, they’re separating,’” he insisted that’s not the case as “a little distance never hurts.”
Echard added that Evans, a wedding photographer and videographer, recently traveled for work and when she returned, they “haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other” and are “attached to each other sides.”
“Distance makes the heart grow fonder,” he noted. “She has her own dreams and aspirations. And we’re gonna give it a shot. … If it doesn’t work, and we’re like, ‘We don’t like this distance, it’s hurting us,’ then one of us will move to the other person.”
As Echard’s podcast appearance made waves — with fans speculating that this was a sign of a split — Evans reacted via the comments section of Zachary Reality’s TikTok about the former Bachelor’s remarks, joking with users who called the situation a “soft launch” breakup and “the beginning of the end.”
Zachary Reality then reached out to the couple, reporting that Echard and Evans told him via FaceTime that they are “not breaking up” as Echard lives with his brother and Evans lives with a friend. They reportedly hope to find a house together in Scottsdale down the line.
Bachelor Nation will recall Echard and Evans reuniting after their brutal breakup on the 2022 season of The Bachelor when she called him sleeping with — and falling in love with — fellow finalists Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey a dealbreaker. He reflected on his decisions and more on “Not Skinny But Not Fat”: