Katie Thurston Explains Why She Didn't Give Blake Moynes a Heads Up About Her Relationship with John Hersey

Katie Thurston is speaking out about her new relationship.

On Friday (December 17), The Bachelorette alum took to social media to respond to criticism after going public with her boyfriend John Hersey after her split with fiance Blake Moynes.

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Katie began by discussing her “regret” for her “12 Days of Messy” series on Instagram, where she shared her feelings for John.

“It’s hard thing to navigate,” she said. “People are always like, ‘Well, you should have told Blake.’”

She continued, “And it’s like, look, we talked about that. We talked about giving Blake a heads up.” However, they ultimately decided against it.

“Here’s the thing that people, I think, forget: We’re just normal people trying to live normal lives. And when have you ever had to tell an ex that you’re seeing someone new?” Katie said. “And like, how would you tell them that? And would I still have received the same amount of hate even if I did give Blake a heads up? I don’t know.”

She added, “All I know is in the moment, I was and am still the happiest I’ve been and I wanted to make a big, grand statement about where I’m at and who I’m with and that’s all I can do is live my truth, live my happiness.”

“It wasn’t worth it,” she said of her “12 Days of Messy” list. “What I didn’t like is the amount of people who thought there was no way that John and I could have a connection, that John is so friend-zoned that it’s, like, so sad.”

John interjected, “I loved that. That was hilarious.”

“I hated it,” Katie replied. “You can love it and that’s fine. I didn’t like that. I wanted to really show that, to me, John is my world. John is handsome. John is romantic. John is everything. And I wanted to really make a big, grand gesture to show that. Was there a lot of hate that came with it? Yeah.”

Katie and Blake announced their split back in October, just months after getting engaged on the season 16 finale of The Bachelorette.

A few weeks ago, John responded to rumors that Katie had cheated on Blake with him.