#Bachelorette Katie Thurston’s New Man Shuts Down Claims That She Cheated On Blake Moynes With Him

John Hersey is speaking out about the rumors surrounding his relationship with Katie Thurston!

If you’ve been following the latest drama within the Bachelor franchise world, then you know that the 30-year-old reality star revealed her new romance with Hersey, who she sent home during week two of the show, at the end of her “12 Days of Messy” social media series earlier this week. The news immediately shocked fans of the dating competition series as they questioned the timing of their new relationship. This includes her ex-fiancé, Blake Moynes! While the wildlife manager told the Talking It Out With Bachelor Nation podcast, he didn’t think there was “any physical cheating,” he did accuse Thurston of “emotionally cheating” due to how their friendship quickly turned into something romantic. He explained at the time:

“There’s clearly emotional for it to transition as quickly as it did. I feel stupid and foolish for allowing it to happen, I guess to some degree. And I don’t know if it was partially me too. Was she, in some sense, emotionally cheating to a degree because I wasn’t able to provide something with words of affirmation, which I know I struggle with sometimes? I just have so many things I’m trying to figure out why it went wrong. Why it transitioned so quickly into a new relationship.”

Related: Blake Moynes Completely ‘Blindsided’ About Bachelorette Ex Katie Thurston’s New Beau!

Now, her new beau is clearing the air…

In a lengthy Reddit thread, which was verified by Page Six, Hersey began by thanking those who have offered their support for him and Thurston before commenting on the negative remarks that have popped up since their relationship debut. While he noted that everyone can voice their opinions, he also expressed that it “hurts” to see “so many of you build assumptions and throw around accusations” about how their coupling came to be.

The 27-year-old bartender admitted that the pair started as friends after first meeting on The Bachelorette, and when they unexpectedly became something more, it was not when Thurston was still with Moynes:

“Katie and I developed an incredible and deep friendship over the last half year or so. The circumstances by which this friendship formed was a series of crazy, random, and coincidental events, that I’m sure you will all hear about at a later time. My point for now, is that we were ALWAYS platonic. Even during my short stint on the season, we never had a chance to foster anything romantic (read as: John blew his chance and left the next day hahaha). The boundaries of our friendship with respect to her ongoing relationship never even required addressing, because it was never a thought in our minds that we would ever be anything more.”

He then further stressed that neither he nor Thurston would have ever cheated, and she specifically took her engagement seriously before it ended:

“You guys- she was engaged. It is apparent that many of you misjudge how both her and I view that commitment. Neither Katie nor I would ever cheat, push someone to cheat or be involved in cheating. It is not in our nature. It is not acceptable. It is not OK. … There was no wrongdoing prior to the end of their engagement.”

Furthermore, Hersey acknowledged how “fast and messy” it may seem that the former bank manager moved on from Moynes, but the timing ultimately felt right for them to start up their relationship:

“Once Katie and I realized there was a romantic connection that we were interested in exploring, we were not starting from scratch; we were building off of the foundation of a close friendship through which, we had already gotten to know each other so well. Every step of the way felt so right.”

And while the duo knew “the optics” would be “the only difficult part” of their newfound love, Hersey said they decided to be honest with everyone from the start instead of hiding it for the sake of their happiness during this time:

“To those of you that suggest we should have waited — I understand. I hear you. But try to understand what it’s like for me, a regular guy, falling helplessly for his best friend, not being able to take her out for dinner because photos would likely leak and everybody would assume we were trying to foster some sort of secret and scandalous relationship haha. Our decision to come out publicly was a decision to pursue happiness in the way we wanted.”

Hmmm…

Now that you’ve heart John’s side of the story, what do YOU think about this messy situation, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF with your reactions to the Reddit thread in the comments (below).

[Image via MEGA/WENN, Bachelor Nation/YouTube]