Bachelorette’s Clare Crawley Responds to Matt James’ Dating Controversy in the Shadiest Way
She knew all along. Bachelorette alum Clare Crawley gave a shady response to Bachelor star Matt James‘ recent dating controversy on Friday, April 9.
It all started when a Bachelor Nation fan tweeted, “Clare Crawley tried to warn Bachelor Nation about Matt James don’t forget! LOL.” A few hours later, the 40-year-old retweeted the post and added the shrug and smirk emojis.
Matt was previously cast as one of the Sacramento native’s hopefuls on season 16 of the series. However, she appeared to develop a beef with the 29-year-old before the cameras even began rolling.
In April 2020, Clare tweeted, “If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season … you are in it for the wrong reasons … #dontwasteyourtime.” She added in a second post, “Respect the opportunity you’ve been given. Respect the rules. Respect me.”
Fans were quick to speculate that the posts were about Matt, because the North Carolina native has an account on the platform where fans can pay for personalized video shout-outs from celebrities and reality stars. However, at the time, he seemed to be donating the proceeds of his video orders to people in need due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Now, for those of you who may have missed the messaging earlier this week, myself and Alex Bachman … pledged all of our Cameo earnings to the Robin Hood Foundation to fight this fight,” the Wake Forest grad explained via his Instagram Stories shortly following Clare’s tweets. “We’re just coming up with creative ways to raise money for these kids that are the future and I hope y’all can help.”
The next day, Clare clarified what she meant by her tweets in a response to a follower. “You weren’t supposed to deduce babe,” she wrote. “It was about MULTIPLE men and a general thought I was having while we sit here in a real-life crisis where someone’s (everyone’s) time [and] sincerity hold so much weight and value.”
It was later announced that Matt would lead season 25 of The Bachelor instead of joining Clare and Tayshia Adams‘ season as a contestant.
Clare’s response comes the same day reports about drama between the Bachelor and controversial season 25 winner Rachael Kirkconnell. While Matt and Rachael, 24, ended their season as a couple, they announced their split on the After the Final Rose special. One month later, they sparked reconciliation rumors but reportedly hit a rough patch in their reunion.
“He flew her to NYC. They’ve been working on their relationship privately over the past few months and taking the next steps to get back together,” a source told Us Weekly on Friday, April 9. While she was in town, the Georgia native found out Matt was “talking to another girl,” the source noted. “She’s very emotional right now because she was very hopeful that things were going to work out. She’s still trying to process this.”
However, a second source told the outlet that it was a “big miscommunication,” and that the ABC Food Tours founder wasn’t “looking for a romantic relationship with Rachael” following their breakup.
Life & Style reached out for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
