Just two months after pledging to love each other for the rest of their lives, Katie Thurston and Blake Moynes, who got engaged on The Bachelorette‘s season 17 finale, have called it quits.
“It is with mutual love and respect that we have decided to go our separate ways,” the 30-year-old former bank marketing manager shared Monday on Instagram. “We are so grateful for the moments we shared together and the entire journey that has unfolded this year, but we ultimately have concluded that we are not compatible as life partners, and it is the most caring choice for both of us to move forward independently.”
“We ask for kindness and privacy as we both navigate this transition,” she continued. “Both of us will forever want the best for one another and ask you to please support us in our decision.”
Blake, 31, shared the same statement on his Instagram.
A source tells the New York Post that their long-distance relationship — Thurston’s a Washington native who relocated to San Diego, and Moynes is Canadian — became “too difficult to navigate.”
“It was exhausting to maintain a long-distance relationship,” the insider continued. “Still, at one point, Katie seemed all in with Blake and was super hopeful that he would one day become her husband. But all the attention from the show put this unspoken pressure on the relationship that they weren’t prepared for.”
Eventually, adds the source, “Katie and Blake’s discussions about marriage became less and less and they had to admit to each that it wasn’t going to work out. But there’s no bad blood and they really hope to remain friends.”
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