Clayton Says He ‘Felt Abandoned’ after Susie Evans Split: ‘I Didn’t Even Want to Look in Her Direction’

Clayton Echard and Susie Evans have finally addressed the reason behind their breakup after announcing their split in September.

He first began by talking about the criticism post The Bachelor.

“I wasn’t really sure of what my next step was going to be once the show ended. I had uprooted myself, I had sold my place. I was like, ‘OK, I can go wherever.’ But as far as what I ended up doing — Am I going to go back to corporate America? Am I going to chase my passions? — there were all these unknowns. And I think it put me in a place of instability.”

“Plus, with the backlash from the show, it became very overwhelming, very quickly. And so, what I think ended up happening is I was trying to figure out what my next step was. I started questioning who I was because of all the negativity. I started to believe some of what was being said about me.”

Clayton added that he “felt Abandoned” after splitting from Susie Evans.

“It’s really hard because when we first broke up…my first initial feeling was, like, I felt abandoned, that was my first feeling,” Clayton tells  People. “I was upset. I didn’t even want to look in her direction because I was like, ‘If I look at you, the hurt is gonna tear me apart.'”

Susie said that Clayton was “very sassy” during this time, but it didn’t last very long.

“He was very sassy, and I didn’t like it. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s how we’re gonna do it,?” Susie said.

“That lasted like half a day, and then I was like I can’t do this,” Clayton added interrupting her. “I can’t ignore her for this next week. I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this. There’s so much love here. I want us to end on happy terms. So then I apologised, and I was like, ‘Hey, I want us to be happy,’ and then we were happy for a few days.”

The former Bachelor also said that the both of them “were crying non-stop” and asking themselves if breaking up was the best option. “We were like, ‘Wait, we’re having so much fun now, should we not break up?'” he said.

Is there a chance for reconciliation?

“Can Susie and I find a way to still keep in contact but not hold onto this feeling of, ‘Can this work?'” he continued. “Because what happens if it doesn’t? I don’t want to be crushed and hold onto hope. And then all of a sudden, no this isn’t going to work…then it just destroys you a second time.”