ABC/Eric McCandless; Gabby Windey/Instagram
Bachelorette Gabby Windey Breaks Her Silence on Erich Schwer Split During ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Telling her side. Bachelorette alum Gabby Windey broke her silence on splitting from fiancé Erich Schwer during her Dancing With the Stars intro package on Monday, November 14.
“For me [the dance] holds a special place because I did just go through a breakup,” Gabby said ahead of a waltz performed to “I’m Kissing You” by Des’ree. “The end of our relationship happened because we weren’t completely in step and in sync with each other on our common goals or just the way we approached life. We weren’t each other’s best match.”
News of the former Denver Broncos cheerleader, 31, split from the New Jersey native, 29, broke on November 4. The former couple confirmed the news to People at the time, with sources telling E! News that Gabby and Erich “weren’t aligned” or “on the same page” ahead of their breakup.
“Gabby was hoping they could give each other space and work it out but ultimately decided they didn’t have a future,” the insider added at the time.
Before speaking publicly of the split, fans had hoped Gabby would address her relationship status during her stint on DWTS. Bachelor Nation blogger Zachary Reality seemingly confirmed that she would. “Gabby’s package for next week will be good,” he teased in a Twitter post shared on November 8, alongside a hashtag that read “inside scoop.”
Gabby, for her part, also told fans in an Instagram Stories post from Sunday, November 13, that their questions would be “addressed” during Monday’s DWTS semi-finals live show. During the DWTS episode, Gabby and her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, performed two dances — the aforementioned waltz and a paso doble to “Malagueña” by Brian Setzer.
Immediately after her stint as the Bachelorette during the show’s 19th season, where she and Erich got engaged, Gabby was announced as a competitor on the 31st season of DWTS. At first, Erich was spotted cheering her on in the crowd. However, breakup rumors started swirling when eagle-eyed fans noticed that during the October 24 and October 31 episodes of DWTS, she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring. When asked about her relationship status by reporters after the show, the nurse played coy.
“Life is just really busy for the both of us right now,” she explained to Fox News after the DWTS Halloween episode. “I understand [Bachelor Nation’s] concern, but we’re just, kind of, going forward with each of our individual interests and supporting each other from afar.”
Despite their split, Erich has continued to support Gabby via social media. “She keeps crushing it,” he wrote, sharing the phone number that fans can use to vote. “Y’all need to keep voting.”
