In case you haven’t heard, The Bachelorette star Brooke Blurton is beefing with Abbie Chatfield, and it’s certainly been a wild 24 hours. It all started after the show’s finale was aired when Brooke claimed the pair are on good terms, but Abbie and Konrad’s relationship leaking to the press did cause a dip in ratings.
But yesterday, the 26-year-old spoke out against the former Bachelor contestant, calling her a “narcissist” and saying she is “another white woman displaying what white privilege looks like.” While she didn’t mention her name in the statement, it was fairly evident who she was talking about, and it didn’t take long for Abbie to respond to her accusations. There’s a lot to catch up on, so we’ve broken it down so you can get up to speed.
Konrad and Abbie are Caught Kissing in Byron Bay
Konrad Bien-Stephens, a contestant on the most recent season of The Bachelorette was a frontrunner on the show and possibly the most favoured contestant by viewers. The lovable carpenter was sweet, kind and seemed to really care about Brooke. So when photos of the 31-year-old kissing Abbie in Byron Bay leaked to the press while he was still competing for Brooke’s heart, things took a turn for the worse.
Devastated fans had realised he will not be the last man standing, but we’re still thrilled that he had found love after all. It’s also rumoured that he had lost his $5000 grant from Network Ten due to the news leaking and things only began to get messier from here on out.
Konrad Confirms to the Media That He is Dating Abbie
As expected, Konrad was eliminated from the series, and as every Bachelorette contestant does after they fail to receive a rose, he scheduled a number of media chats to open up about his experience on the show, including POPSUGAR Australia. During my interview with Konrad, I decided to bite the bullet and ask, “Are you and Abbie Chatfield dating?” While I almost expected him to brush me off, he surprisingly gave me an honest answer.
“Yeah! It has been some time since production finished and I’m really, really grateful I met Brooke. But Abbie is an amazing girl and I’m excited to see what the future holds for us both,” he said. It didn’t take long for every media outlet in the country to report on his new relationship, but up until this point, Abbie herself had yet to confirm their union.
Abbie Hard Launches Konrad on Instagram
A day before the finale, which Abbie actually guest-starred in, the podcast host did a hard launch of her relationship with Konrad on her social media pages. She posted a series of photos of herself with Konrad and officially announced that the two were indeed dating. It didn’t take long for Brooke to unfollow the social media influencer, and former Bachelorette Angie Kent also criticised Abbie for the move. Writing in her Yahoo! column, Angie wrote that the announcement “maybe could have waited so that the attention wasn’t taken away from the first-ever woman of colour and pansexual Bachelorette.”
She went on to say that while she loves Abbie, she did feel as if the post was “opportunistic” and a “power move”. She wrote: “Announcing your spicy hot relationship THE DAY of your mate Brooke’s finale episodes was just a little bit can we say opportunistic? I love me some Abbie, don’t get this twisted, but she’s a very clever clogs when it comes to dropping it like it’s hot and creating an absolute media circus of sorts.
“Sister has stated many a time that there is one thing she does not like to discuss and that is who she is dating. But on the day of her friend’s finale episode(s) she HARD launches the s–t of her brand-spankin’ new relationship with someone from Brooke’s season. Of course, we are going to eat this right up, It’s yummy. Power move vibes right there. I love a power move. But it wasn’t the day for it hey?”
Brooke Issues a Statement
Despite Brooke telling the media that things were fine between her and Abbie, her statement on Instagram on Thursday night (Dec. 2) seemed to have thrown water on those claims. Announcing that she is taking a break from social media to focus on her relationship with Darvid, Brooke also called out Abbie without mentioning her name. Speaking about her sister’s tragic passing which occurred earlier in the year, Brooke said she “personally and mentally” had been “disrupted by all the crap that came with finale week”.
“I’m not a hostile person and literally do not have any hate in my heart,” Brooke continued.
“Everyone who watched the show, or was on the show cast and/or working as crew, will know that I put my heart and soul into it and it meant a lot for me to open myself up so vulnerably like that. Not only that but for what it meant to for LGBTQIA+ and First Nations Community to have that display of representation.”
She said this moved her onto her “hardest point”:
“For that to be tainted ONCE again by 1. [someone] I thought was a close friend, 2. Another white woman displaying what white privilege looks like, 3. A very clear display of narcissism, hurts me. Literally pains me,” she said.
The youth worker then went on to say that she had reached out to the unnamed person in an attempt to resolve the conflict and “communicate openly about the layers of complexity that this person’s actions show and take away from NOT only me but what it meant for a Queer woman of colour”.
Abbie Responds and Apologises
After Brooke’s comment, Abbie issued an apology on her own Instagram account, revealing the photos of her and Konrad kissing were taken without their consent, but despite it all, hard-launching her relationship with Konrad before the season finale was not the best decision.
“A month ago, a video of Konrad and I kissing was secretly captured by a patron and made public,” she wrote. “Following this, Brooke and I had a conversation in which I apologised and expressed regret multiple times for our public affection as this was prior to Konrad’s exit from the show. Konrad had a similar conversation with Brooke.
“We met as a result of him coming along to a catch up with a mutual friend, the public setting was an accident. We absolutely should have waited to be in private as we are public figures and these are things we need to consider, but we didn’t. We also didn’t consider the possible ramifications of our actions.
“Immediately following this, we intentionally kept things quiet and did not leave the house together in an effort to not be photographed out of respect for the show and to minimise press surrounding the spoiler of Konrad’s exit.
“When I uploaded a post confirming the numerous rumours, it was not with malice.
“The morning of, I mistook a message from Brooke expressing her happiness for and approval of our relationship as a green light to upload a post. Following the post, Konrad received an equally supportive message.
“I see with hindsight that this assumption was naïve. I now understand the timing of publicly sharing our relationship should have been more considered and that is my fault. I acknowledge that impact outweighs intent.
“I didn’t take into account the Australian media landscape and the inherent privilege that I hold as a white woman.
“My actions had the potential to undermine the importance that this pivotal season of The Bachelorette holds to the First Nations and LGBTQIA+ Communities. This is an extremely important conversation to be having.
“In future, this will be at the forefront of my mind and I will continue to listen to and amplify minority communities, and endeavour to learn.
“I’m sorry.”
