January 22, 2025 • 35 mins
Someway, somehow, the drama seems to always find its way into Clayton Echard's life -- Or so he thinks! Clayton is here to discuss the headlines from his paternity lawsuit drama, how he plans on handling it, and why he failed at being "The Bachelor."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is that Ben and Nashley I Almost Famous podcast
Bachelor Countdown.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Today we are continuing our series the Countdown to Grant
season with a whole bunch of bachelors. Today we have
Clayton Eckert. Clayton is well known for his season that
premiered on January third, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Two, and for saying I love you to three women.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Somebody's gotta tap me somebody.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I was gonna say, somebody's got to make Ben feel better.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, welcome, thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now for women?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
How about that for a wild for be a wild accomplishment?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Five? You just just go for a record out a
lot of can't be beaten?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Could you imagine that there is possibly like a bachelor
who had never seen the show and then didn't know
that that was like a faux pa and he did
end up saying I love you to like.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Every drop and love bombs everywhere. Yeah, it seems healthy, right, Hey, Clayton,
I want to start out with something that's going to
be boring to every listener, so I'm not gonna spend
a lot of time on it. I think I saw
an Instagram video was that your golf swing like last week, I.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Go, oh, no, no, no, that was my youngest brothers,
but my swings no better. I couldn't put myself on
video because I actually twisted my ankle dancing next to
the golf court or golf cart, so I couldn't. I
couldn't end up playing golf the rest of the day.
So that's why that was not me. But it runs
in the family. We're all bad golfers.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Goodness, man, that was wild. They like hurt like he took.
He took about three three feet of dirt behind the
ball like it. You have to be a strong boy
to even make contact with the ball at that point.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, I'll give him credit. I mean he's strong, but
he also is cutting grass all day on the court.
Of course you can. I don't play golf, it's a
golf course.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Explain.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That is how Ben warms you up for the questions
to come, you know, because we have we got juicy
stuff to ask you about each stuff you're probably maybe
tired of talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
But man too, were talking to juicy not to ask.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Okay, so let's start out by talking about your paternity
test and all of that drama that went down over.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Was it the course of almost two years?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Two years? Yeah, the anniversary of it. Yeah, it's been
a pain in the you know what. But we're on
the right track now. She's getting looked at by the
County Attorney for prosecution and so hopefully there's an end
in sight. But the court is a little slow and
it's procedures, which is honestly fine. They're doing the research.
(02:54):
But yeah, that was now what I anticipated coming off
TV and having to deal with Certainly, I've learned a
lot about being more protective of my energy and trying
to be just just stay out of the drama. But
somehow the drama finds me a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Well, Clayton, can you give a quick little recap of
what happened to you with this woman and then what
the current situation that you're waiting on is.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, so I had been spent a night with this woman,
although there was no sexual intercourse. This woman then wanted
to date me. I said, no, that's not going to happen.
She then did not take that well, ended up eleven
days later saying she was pregnant. First it was one child,
(03:40):
then it became twins. Then she wouldn't do any of
the tests, so I couldn't prove that she wasn't pregnant
at all. Finally, she went public to try to defame me.
Her name then got out there. I then decided to
push everything online to hold her accountable since she wouldn't
She wasn't giving me anything behind the scenes, so I
(04:01):
put it online to hold her accountable. Upon her releasing
it to the public, that's when her name got out there,
and then I started getting messages from people saying that
I wasn't the only man that she had done this too.
Now we're at four or five other men that she's
done this in the past, two as far back as
twenty sixteen. We're finding it might be even earlier than that.
(04:23):
So she is a professional con woman. Not only that,
her family's involved in it, so they're all complicit in
her ways. And so yeah, through all of this we
went to trial. I had the lawyer from the previous victim,
who then helped me win the case, prove that she
(04:44):
was never pregnant with my child, that she had made
the whole thing up.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So we ever pregnant in general?
Speaker 4 (04:49):
No, yeah, no, she was One of my cases end
up being live streamed, which is a blessing in disguise.
I self represented because I just bought a house. I
didn't lawyers are expensive, and so I was like, oh,
this will be easy to prove that she's not pregnant.
She just has to provide evidence. So I went in
self represented, came out of the case. Didn't realize it
was live stream. But on that live stream, why I
wasn't paying attention. She was shifting this fake pregnancy bump around.
(05:12):
So she bought one of those fake belly bumps, and
thankfully that was online and people caught it, and that
was the beginning of the end for her as far
as people realizing that she was full of you know what,
and so we from there. Yeah, I mean, just kept
going back into court and thankfully had a ruling on
back in June or July, Kimmember, which month. But it's
(05:36):
essentially given me an order of an opportunity. So now
she can't claim she's not supposed to be claiming she's
pregnant with my kids or or ever was, because I
could sue her still in debating it, I have every
right to sue her for defamation, but we're just hoping
that the county attorney prosecutes her. They've been investigating her
since June, so they're still actively doing so.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I don't, like, I don't know if this is I
don't want to laugh because this is just so crazy,
like that in moments where this like I can't even
process this story, like I almost want to be like,
you're kidding, like not this is hilarious, but like it
doesn't sound real.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
No, no, and no. But that was that was a
problem so unbelievable that people almost didn't believe me out
the gate because like, why would this woman make this up?
This is ridiculous, and she's got to come with receipts,
like and that's what we all thought. And I mean
there was a point where, even though I didn't believe her,
I thought, either I'm dealing with the craziest woman I've
ever met, or this girl's telling the truth. And it
(06:37):
was the craziest woman I've ever met. But I like
tried to give her the benefit of doubt. I was like,
even like, I don't know, maybe I don't know what's
going on here, but I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
A Christian, I do believe in miraculous conception. However, I
haven't seen it outside of the biblical stories, So that
would that would be some a whole new story to
share if.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
That, and it would be with you know, Joseph in
the situation would be Clayton.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, which you know I would run with. You know,
maybe I would make are out of that, but not
a loss. That wasn't the case.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Okay, need to know what did she seem like the
night that you met her? Like, did she give off
these crazy vibes?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
No, she was totally normal. That was That's a sad
part about it is she could totally have a relationship
and be happy and start a family and she's not
you know, I don't see her as attractive now, but
she's not an ugly woman. And she was totally normal.
Conversation was normal. It wasn't until I told her the
next day after she begged for me to date her
like five times, that I finally said no means no,
(07:40):
stop asking me. And that's when her face glossed over,
went completely dark. Her eyes didn't go black, but it
felt like that. I mean, in that moment, I remember
her staring at me and be like, I get it.
Have a good one. Got out of my car and
I just knew something was off. I just felt really
really bad energy. So no, she could have just had
a normal life. Unfortunately, there's some stuff from her past
(08:01):
obviously that has warped her into who she is and
doesn't help that. Her mom is her accomplice and helps
her along with these things. But there's definitely some past
familial trauma, and unfortunately she's not willing to seek help
for it.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean, I'm imagining there is a lot of pain,
Like any anybody that's gonna do this has a lot
of pain. And so that's the hope on how to
confront that. First off, Now, I do want to transition
here because we are not here to do a deep
dive in actually we are not able to do a
deep dive into Clayton's court.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Kits. All I'm saying is.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Please submit this story to Lifetime and to clarify she
really did fake four or five pregnancies.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yes, yeah, we know of four or five. I don't
there's but then there's now apparently other men. It's just
a matter of like, did she go the full pregnancy
rout of it? Did she just threaten them andferent ways.
So yeah, it's and there's been discussions about a documentary,
but I think everyone's waiting to see what happens with
(09:08):
the County attorney. Of course, like if they decide a
prosecute or not. There has to be some type of ending,
But right now it's just all up in the air. Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
As much as I would love to sit here for
the next forty minutes and talk about Clayton's court case,
that's not why we're here today. We're here to talk
about his time as the Bachelor and then life now,
which obviously the court case is a lot of life now.
The transitioning question will be a little bit about what
we were just talking about before, and then I want
to transition into a few things that happened during your season.
(09:46):
How much has this season of life the last two years?
How much has it felt like it's defined you or
pushed you away from your lead and your time as
the Bachelor, Because we're looking at two years, that's not
that long after you're se and stopped airing, had a
few months buffer there, and then this kind of jumped
into your life, and so how much has this felt
(10:07):
like it's been a cloud or been a defining moment
for you? And you've never really gotten to enjoy the
fruits of the show.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
You know, I'd say where I'm at currently, I'm in
a really great spot. The last two years just weren't
the traditional type of experience for a bachelor. For me,
it was, you know, a cheating accusation right out the gate,
which I disproved, and then it became a second accusation.
So I was, you know, back to back years of
getting accused. Of course, you know, I had a very
(10:40):
interesting end to my season. Certainly could have handled things differently.
I give myself grace now, I mean I really met well,
but I lacked emotional intelligence, and so you know, I
chalked it up to being an a household of three
boys and having no women and not talking about emotions.
So now, nonetheless, that's that's what I've had to learn,
is to develop that. And these last two years I've
(11:03):
grown a lot as a person. Have I been able
to enjoy being the Bachelor? Like certainly and maybe not,
you know as much as other people that had really
great edits and you know, walked out of there and
we're just loved by everybody. But I also think that
that wasn't supposed to be my experience. I needed to
grow up as a human being and there were some
things that areas of my life that I could improve upon,
(11:24):
and that's what the last two years afforded me. I've
done therapy multiple different times. I've gotten into a lot
of healing modalities. I've done breath work, I've done plant medicines.
I've really dove into who I am, and I feel
that I'm finally my most authentic version of myself, which
is completely different than who I was on the Bachelor.
There's certainly remnants of who I was then, but I've
(11:46):
I've changed a lot and so now who I am today,
I'm forever grateful for being I don't feel like I'm
living a facade. Actually feel like I'm the real Clayton
for once. So that's cool. That's a really great feeling.
You know. Unfortunately I had to go through the adversity
to get here, but I also I now I see
it as a blessing. You know. It took me to
(12:07):
the lowest moments of my life, but that's where the
most growth occurs. And so I feel good. Yeah, like
I'm happy, And I will say now that, like I
guess on the other side of it. Now it's like, hey,
I'm authentically me. There's not really opportunities anymore, Like I've
fallen out of the spotlight. But that has been it
(12:27):
was tough at first to just watch like it all
fall off and not really like be relevant, but you know,
because I gotten used to that, always people staying in
my business. But now in the last six months or so,
it's kind of become nice, Like it's allowed me to
acclimate back to normal life, where like people aren't really
paying attention to what I'm doing, not to the degree
(12:47):
they were prior, and so I like that, you know,
I think it's helped me realize that, like all that
extra noise and stuff doesn't really matter. If I get
future opportunities, that's awesome, but I'm not going to lose
myself the same way that I did the first time around.
So long winded answer, but that's all my answer, and now.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Long when it's good and I want to. So we're
a few years removed, and it feels like from talking
to you, kind of your defense defenses are down, like
you're you're not as protective of Hey, you know, I'm
going to blame outside world like many of us do
when we come off the show, right, But you did
(13:24):
use the word edit there, and I want to read
a quote I don't know if you remember this that
you gave in twenty twenty two. It says, watching it back,
I was embarrassed and disgusted by my actions and the
way I was portrayed or seen on TV. Ultimately, I
had to live with the fact that my narrative is
what was shown and that was hard because that's not
really who I am. I don't feel that what I
(13:44):
was on the show is who I truthfully am. But
I did those things. I became that person. So after
what you just said there and reading that quote, what
I'm reading between the lines is are you saying that
you're you weren't who you wanted to be on the show,
or that the edit was it what you wanted to be?
I don't know, like question the story was. And so
(14:08):
for everybody listening now we're two years removed, give clarity
to what exactly went on during your season.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Yeah, well, you want me to walk through as far
as like how the outcome of it or or just
basically just explaining that quote that you just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, the quest I want to I want to know
what we didn't see from people. I want to know
what was missing from the.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Four hours with you guys.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
You guys know I can't talk about.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Some of the NDAs.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Come on now.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah, they're sold and they will come after me. I am.
That quote that you just mentioned was coming from an
ego centric place. At that point, I was under a
lot of dress and so I fell backed into a
corner and I wasn't willing to accept full accountability for
(14:57):
what resulted and what was shown. That being said, I
definitely feel it's a shared sense of accountability what was
shown on TV. There was no body double. It was me,
so that that was me and those were my actions.
But I also there was a lot of things. You know,
again the show, you guys know this. I mean, it's
(15:19):
a two hour episode, but you know two hours in
one episode encapsule, it's four or five days of filming
at you know, fourteen fifteen hours a day, So there's
just missing context. I used to think, you know, or
feel that, you know, they did it out of spite
and try to destroy my character. I now look at
it like, I don't think the producers are that vengeful.
(15:42):
I think they just really tried to create a very
highly emotional season, and I think they realized that people
didn't like me out the gate. They weren't happy I
was chosen as a bachelor, so they were looking for
reasons to hate me. And I think, you know, after
my season, the show was like, you gave us too
much firepower, and if we don't produce it this way,
I mean, we don't want a lukewarm bachelor. We want
(16:03):
either a very beloved bachelor or a hated bachelor. And
in the past, you know, they've they you know, every
so often they go for a bachelor and they kind
of take them down the opposite route. I mean, I think,
you know, I've seen Peter Webber kind of got a similar,
you know, approach in the way that he was portrayed.
Now that being said again, I mean, I don't want
to try to displaced blame here. You know, I took
(16:25):
those actions on the show, and so you know, people
were upset by it. I also think too, though, that
it's not a matter what I will say is like,
I'm not going to defend what I did on the show.
In fact, I now accept full responsibility, and I think
I did what I thought was best at the time.
So I've forgiven myself and that's all that matters. Could
I have done things better, Yeah, in hindsight, sure. But
(16:46):
I also was very emotional to the way that my reaction,
how people responded to me, And it's not that serious.
Now I realized that like people were treating it. I
was getting death threats. People were telling me I was,
you know, all the worst things in the world, stupid,
not deserving, blah blah blah blah. I now realize those
people are extremely overreacting. It's not that serious. Like I
(17:07):
hurt some people on a TV show and I'm sorry
for that, but I mean, this life or death treatment
was ridiculous. So you know, I look at it now
and I'm just like I was a little bit overly sensitive,
and so anytime that anything got brought up, I felt
like the world was coming crashing down on me. And
so that original quote was me trying to place blame
on the shoulders of the show and take it off
(17:29):
me because I'm not a monster. I mean, that's what
some people viewed me as. I also think that the
you know, the loudest people online, it's it's still a minority.
I think there's a majority of people that watched it
and said, like, yeah, that wasn't probably smart, but I
don't think he's a you know, bad guy. I was
really just hyper sensitive to the criticism. So I was
trying to defend my character. And now I realized I was,
(17:52):
like these people were overreacting a lot of them, And
you know, yeah, was I immature in certain senses, yes, absolutely,
But my gosh, it's a TV show like relax. I
didn't I didn't, you know, do something that drastic.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I just you just said, I love you.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You know, it's.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
That tell somebody.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
I mean, I I failed at you know, polyamory or
whatever you want to call it. Like that's why the
show is, you know, like it's date multiple people and
then you try to get back to monogamy and I
I just failed at that. You know, it is what
it is. So I mean I'm like, yeah, would you say, hey,
were you what? Was I a successful bachelor? Not really
by the respect of like I mean, I ended up
alone on the at the end of it, I guess
Susan and I dated for a year, But it is again,
(18:35):
I've just given myself grace it like it is what
it is. It's at the end of the day. It
doesn't define me.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I sure hope it doesn't. I mean, if you're stone
one day said uh clean Eckerd the Bachelor, Uh big
problems in life, buddy.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
To move on, you know, like it's you know, it's
a special experience, and I I mean, I'm forever grateful.
I'm grateful for the show. I don't hold in the
ill will towards them. Did I hold ill? Well, yes,
I did it certain points, and I wanted to like
come out and say, here's all the behind the scenes
stuff that like you guys didn't see on TV because
there was some of that stuff. But it's like the
(19:09):
show has to put in as much as they can
to our windows. So I don't it wasn't malicious why
they left out stuff. I don't think so. And if
somebody dislikes me at ABC whatever, then I guess they do.
But I, you know, I just don't appear I don't
want to hold that at this point. I'm like, forget it.
It is what it is.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Well, you and Grant are actually in similar situations because
you're both chosen to be the Bachelor from not the
top four. You guys were honestly quite random choices from
the top ten. Yeah, why do you think you were chosen?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Why do you think Grant was chosen? Why? What advice?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I that's a lame question in my point of view.
What advice do you have for Grant? But because you
guys are in situations, how do you handle it not
being a main character and becoming the main character?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Yeah? I mean my advice to Grant's just be authentical yourself.
I mean, you can't control people's opinions, and you'll spin
your wheels until you burn off all the tread trying
to do so. I mean that's what I did. I
was trying to convince everybody that, like, wait, this is
why they chose me. You know, I'm just as great
as all the other previous bachelors. I'm not like the reject.
It's like this was still a coveted position, Like I'm
(20:18):
just as good as anybody else. But that was you know,
that was a loss. I mean, that was wasted my
time trying to prove it, and there's no point. So
I would just say, you know, focus on what you
can control and what's outside of your control. Let it
go and just let it play out. I do think ultimately,
karma comes back, and the people that get put up
on pedestals fall off them, and the ones that you
(20:39):
know gets banished to the corner end of climbing back
out and we all settle somewhere in the middle. No
one's as good or as bad as they're perceived on television.
A lot of times there's some middle ground somewhere. So
I would just say, if he focuses on himself and
just you know, whatever you want to do with this experience.
If he wants to leverage it business wise, go for it.
You know. If he finds love awesome, like whatever it is,
(21:00):
don't listen to the noise. You know, a lot of
people are jealous, and they say, all these people come
on for this reason, that reason, whatever, Like we come
on for our reasons that we come on, and we
do what we do with it, And so for forgive
us for taking the opportunity. As far as why I
was chosen, I mean, truthfully, I'm just gonna be honest.
I think I was chosen because I fit what the
(21:20):
demographic really wanted, not you know, the minority online people
blew up and were upset that I was chosen over
men of color. I totally understand that. Why I was
chosen as the eighth guy when there was six men
of color before me, I don't know. It's not my
question answer, but I will say I think that I
fit this mold. They were looking for a six foot
five white dude. I mean, the show Primariage cast white leads,
(21:42):
and I fit that mold. I was, you know, the
guy from the Midwest that on paper checked a lot
of the boxes. And so I think that's why they
made me that. But there was pushback because people were
frustrated that it didn't come from a top four pick.
And I get that. So again I just look at
it like, hey, I accepted the role. I mean, that
was my job. You want to know why I was chosen,
(22:03):
you ask them. But I can tell you that I
see why people were upset, and I don't blame them.
But again, it wasn't my decision to and I didn't
take it away from people. People said, oh, he took
it away from these other people, Like no, they could away.
Yeah no, I was like, I didn't take it away
from people. Those producers could have went to those guys,
you know. So again just my opinion, I think that's unfortunate,
but the show does have to. Like they are trying
(22:25):
to make it work and trying to have diversity and
trying to keep their audience happy. I mean, I know
they're paying attention to it. You know, I've had those
conversations with them. They so they're very, very aware of
what's being said by the public with you know, race
being you know, a topic that's brought up a lot.
I think they just tried to satisfy their the silent
(22:46):
majority of people, and they picked me, and it backfired
because no one knew who I was.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
To transition here a little bit. In the last few
minutes that we have with you, I want to get
into life now, and I want to get into a
few of the more prevalent relationships that came from your
time during this franchise. Gabby, Rachel, and Susie obviously are
the three that we think of when it comes to
your experience. Gabby's in a relationship, Rachel and Susie are
(23:21):
both single. To go back because it feels like my
role today, I'm going to read a quote that Susie
said about you during your trial, and it's interesting. I
want to hear what you think of it. I want
you to break it down for us. She said this.
She said, listen, Clayton might be a lot of things,
but he's not a liar. And that meant a lot
to me. What do you think she meant by Clayton
(23:43):
might be a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Oh, Susie, you know, I'm going to hold off on that.
I think that there was there was reasons why her
and I broke up, and there was equal you know,
there's no blame to be dispersed out, but there's reasons
why it didn't work. From my point of view, with
the way that she acted and vice versa, I haven't
(24:09):
really been in agreeance with a few of the times
that she's made small comments that carry a lot more weight.
I think that that direct quote was one of them.
So I wish Susie the best. I don't think that
comment was necessary in the way it was framed. I
also don't think a few other things she said At
some points it felt like she was trying to make it,
you know, seem like I was the whole reason that
(24:31):
the really ship didn't work. That's the way I perceived it.
I don't know if she meant that or not, but
of course, if you're bringing this up, you know as
a quote, it's you got to wonder, you know, why
was it said that way? It certainly perked people up
into being like, huh, you could have just said Clayton's
not a liar? Why did you say he might be?
Many things? So, you know, I I haven't been in favor,
and I've told her that she's aware at some of
(24:54):
the ways that she's you know, said things, but it
is what it is. You know, she can she can
respond to that accordingly what she meant. I never got,
you know, an answer as far as like what that
meant myself, but I just moved on from it, let
it go. You know, we're not perfect, and at some
points we all say things that in hindsight, we probably
shouldn't have said. So I can forgive her for that
there was. I do it every week.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I do it every week. And I guess Susie is
I'm a little bit behind the times. I think her
and Justin are trying to rekindle something. So maybe when
I said they're both single, they might not be.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Aren't. But I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
But speaking of that, she and Justin had a very
public flirty friendship before coming out as a public couple.
Do you, guys, how did you feel about watching her
with like another bachelor guy, another person in the spotlight.
Was that hard to just see her move on to
somebody that was going to make headlines with her?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
No, not at all. I didn't really feel any type
of way about it. I mean, when Susie and I
broke up, we knew it was never going to ever
be a thing again. So it was just like once
that was severed, you know, we were important in each
other's life to help each other get through, you know,
a traumatic time, and she helped me grow as a person.
But ultimately, like after we had those breakup conversations, I mean,
(26:13):
and after the feeling subsided, it became very much just like, hey,
you know what, we weren't meant to be each other
forever person, So I knew that that day would come
whenever she would date somebody new, and so when I
saw it, it was like, yeah, I mean this this
day was coming. It was inevitable, and I didn't really
feel any type of way about it. I was like, Okay,
good for her.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
The you did this to yourself, you set this up,
and so I don't feel bad about asking this question.
We had an iHeart event and I believe it was.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Moning it two years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Two years ago, Rachel was there. You guys did a
video to get the world talking, and they talked. It
was kind of a flirty video.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
And we saw them kind of flurried place.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
You guys have deep mystery going on. So we just
talked about Susie, talked a little bit about Gabby Rachel.
You and Rachel stay in contact. Is there any uh,
you know, fuel still to the potential flame that could
be the two of you.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I don't really keep in contact with her. I'm not
sure what she's doing these days, but I will say that, Yeah,
I hear people talk like they always wonder if if
the two of us would have would have made sense together.
And I don't think people will be asking that question
(27:36):
much much longer. I think.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Not just a lot of that Oh oh, because somebody
is in a relationship here. I think it's Clayton. I
think it's Clayton.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
I mean, why would he?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, I think it's Clayton. Clayton's going to come out
with a relationship announcement. Do you just want to do it?
Speaker 4 (27:51):
On the show?
Speaker 1 (27:52):
A lot of listeners, a lot of people could get
some real excitement if you just tell us who I'm not.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
I'm not just I'm not going to drop any bombshells today. No,
there's could be a talking to somebody in relationship, could
not be I could have you know, whatever, things will
make sense. I'll put it this way. People will get
an answer at some point here, So in as far
as you like engaged what I'm alluding to. No, No,
I'll just I'll just answers will be clear at some point.
(28:22):
I just that's all I'll say.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Gracious, such a cliffhanger for us, but I'm glad that
we at least got that tease. I mean, there's something
happening in your life that no longer allows you to
be in relationship with Rachel. So yeah, that's exciting. Congratulations Cleaton.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Life is exciting. I never up my sleeves, so yeah,
there's something's coming all right.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Well.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
In the teasers for The Traders, in which Gabby is in,
she calls herself a lesbian, but in twenty twenty three
she said, I guess I'm bisexual would be the most
honest label for me. I don't know, but after dating
a woman. I feel so connected to my girlfriend. That's
what's most important to me. I don't believe in labels,
but I don't know if I could ever date a
(29:09):
man again. Would you ever thought that this would be
after being with Gabby? Fantasy suites and such?
Speaker 4 (29:17):
I wow? I mean I know that, like Gabby, she
shared a lot of things with me about her life,
and of course, you know the things that are off camera,
you know, stay off camera. You know, she confided in
(29:39):
me with different things. I won't say that she convided
me with about sexuality. That was not I'm not alluding
to that, but I you know, I know that she
had you know, there was parts of her life growing
up that were tough and challenging for her, and you
know that she was coping with and so I was
surprised to like have her come out. But I again,
(30:01):
I mean, how do you It's like, I think people
wrestle with that a lot of times. You know, I
think there's not the stigma's not there like it used
to be used to. You know, people would be embarrassed
to come out and say that, you know, they they
are gay or bisexual, whatever it may be. And I
think it's just more accepted now, So I'm sure she
was wrestling with it for some time and then but
when she came out, I was like, Okay, I mean,
(30:22):
I guess we're getting all used to people like coming
out and making statements like this, and so it's just
not as surprising as maybe if she came out twenty
years ago or whatever. So yeah, I mean, at the
time I spent with her, I felt like we had
a strong connection and I really did, you know, have
strong feelings for her. I think she's just trying to
figure out what's best for her, you know. So this
(30:43):
is a part of our journey.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
In the final question that we have for you today,
We've covered a lot of topics here, Clayton. Obviously, we've
covered a court case. We've covered your time as the Bachelor.
We've covered the past relationships that are always so fun
to talk about. We've covered your personal growth, and now
I want to cover where you're at today. And so
my question for you is two. Part one is how
(31:07):
are you personally?
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I'm great, I honestly, I mean am happy. I got
a lot of things cooking. Uh, and there's just baby cooking.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
You might as well just tell us or create all
these ideas in everybody's heads, and it's just like.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
I like, that's fine, she can't. I like playing games.
I mean I was doing this when I was on
the batch, and I was dropping hints on my Instagram
to certain that I was with Susie and people. I
was trying to you know, I was posting photos of
like me standing by the bedside and like you could
see her leg in the like her a leg outline.
I was playing. I love playing these little psychological games.
So this is just fun I'm doing. I'm just I'm
just doing right now. So she wants to if she
(31:52):
wants to spark up, it doesn't. I'll just say that,
you know, there's people. Yeah, there's gonna be some fun
things that are that that will come out and do time.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Well, it's it's cool to see you be excited about something.
My final question for you is, uh, what are you
looking forward to in the next few years. You've had
I mean, no matter what, this has been a I
know you've had personal growth. I know there's been good
things to this. If you lay out the timeline of
the last three years of your life, it's it's had
some rocky moments and a lot that you couldn't control.
(32:27):
So as we look forward now to three years, four years,
five years, what are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4 (32:31):
The most? I would say what came top of mind
is like every year, I choose a word that I
focus on for myself. Last year it was, you know, rebirth.
I chose that word. I wanted to become my most
authentic self. I feel like I've acquired you know, acquired
that now and this year it's redemption. So that was
the word I chose, and I'm looking forward to what
(32:53):
all that means in my life, which again it's it's
it's I'm excited because I feel like life is still
challenging as it always is, but you know, this new
me is is bringing a lot of opportunity and energy
my way that I've always you know, wished that I
had come this my direction that now is So it's
kind of like, you know, what you push out is
(33:14):
what you attract, and that's what I'm finding. So I'm
really excited to continue watching more things that are meant
for me arrive at my doorsteps. So that's that's going
to keep dancing I out of it. Yeah, I told
my I've stepped it up to four times a week
now from two. So I told my dance instructor, I
actually want to learn to dance, not like do TikTok dances,
(33:36):
because at first I was posting some stuff and it was,
you know, more to build confidence. Now I'm actually trying
to become decent at dancing and like learn to actually
move and so I don't. Yeah, I set like a
six to seven month timeline on it. I told my instructor.
At you know, at the end of these seven months
four days a week, I'll reassess as far as like
if I want to continue, I'm really going all that.
(33:56):
I mean, it's fun, it's a hobby. So it's you know,
it's just like for me, it's become like what my
what lifting weights is. I'm like, it's just a hobby
that I'm pouring into and you know, not posting as
much online about it because I'm actually just learning to
do like grooves and all that. So I think it's.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Training for Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Fifth Star that you're like the only bachelor that hasn't
been chosen for Dancing with the Stars and it's your hobby.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Is that what it is? And I know you're.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Not I'm thinking about others. It's like Zach wasn't it?
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Yeah? Was Peter Webber? I don't think he was either,
was he?
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Oh my gosh? How did Peter not do that out covid?
Speaker 4 (34:30):
I think I saw Peter was doing some dance videos
on on Instagram or TikTok at one point, so I'm
sure he's I'm sure he him and I are just
by sitting here fuming every day, being like, just give
us a chance, ye, bring it soon for a guest
appearance if nothing else, just let let us tap on
the floor for like five minutes and I'll be good.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Hey, Clayton, thanks for joining us today. We wish you
the best as this you know, year of what was
your word this year? Redemption? No redemption, redemption, redemption. Year
of Redemption continues, Thanks for joining us, and the countdown
to the Bachelor continues with more special guests and more
(35:09):
leads that we're catching up with as we go. But
until next time, I've been Ben, I've been Ashley.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
See follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts
on iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
This is that Ben and Nashley I Almost Famous podcast
Bachelor Countdown.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Today we are continuing our series the Countdown to Grant
season with a whole bunch of bachelors. Today we have
Clayton Eckert. Clayton is well known for his season that
premiered on January third, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Two, and for saying I love you to three women.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Somebody's gotta tap me somebody.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I was gonna say, somebody's got to make Ben feel better.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, welcome, thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now for women?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
How about that for a wild for be a wild accomplishment?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Five? You just just go for a record out a
lot of can't be beaten?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Could you imagine that there is possibly like a bachelor
who had never seen the show and then didn't know
that that was like a faux pa and he did
end up saying I love you to like.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Every drop and love bombs everywhere. Yeah, it seems healthy, right, Hey, Clayton,
I want to start out with something that's going to
be boring to every listener, so I'm not gonna spend
a lot of time on it. I think I saw
an Instagram video was that your golf swing like last week, I.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Go, oh, no, no, no, that was my youngest brothers,
but my swings no better. I couldn't put myself on
video because I actually twisted my ankle dancing next to
the golf court or golf cart, so I couldn't. I
couldn't end up playing golf the rest of the day.
So that's why that was not me. But it runs
in the family. We're all bad golfers.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Goodness, man, that was wild. They like hurt like he took.
He took about three three feet of dirt behind the
ball like it. You have to be a strong boy
to even make contact with the ball at that point.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, I'll give him credit. I mean he's strong, but
he also is cutting grass all day on the court.
Of course you can. I don't play golf, it's a
golf course.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Explain.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That is how Ben warms you up for the questions
to come, you know, because we have we got juicy
stuff to ask you about each stuff you're probably maybe
tired of talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
But man too, were talking to juicy not to ask.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Okay, so let's start out by talking about your paternity
test and all of that drama that went down over.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Was it the course of almost two years?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Two years? Yeah, the anniversary of it. Yeah, it's been
a pain in the you know what. But we're on
the right track now. She's getting looked at by the
County Attorney for prosecution and so hopefully there's an end
in sight. But the court is a little slow and
it's procedures, which is honestly fine. They're doing the research.
(02:54):
But yeah, that was now what I anticipated coming off
TV and having to deal with Certainly, I've learned a
lot about being more protective of my energy and trying
to be just just stay out of the drama. But
somehow the drama finds me a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Well, Clayton, can you give a quick little recap of
what happened to you with this woman and then what
the current situation that you're waiting on is.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, so I had been spent a night with this woman,
although there was no sexual intercourse. This woman then wanted
to date me. I said, no, that's not going to happen.
She then did not take that well, ended up eleven
days later saying she was pregnant. First it was one child,
(03:40):
then it became twins. Then she wouldn't do any of
the tests, so I couldn't prove that she wasn't pregnant
at all. Finally, she went public to try to defame me.
Her name then got out there. I then decided to
push everything online to hold her accountable since she wouldn't
She wasn't giving me anything behind the scenes, so I
(04:01):
put it online to hold her accountable. Upon her releasing
it to the public, that's when her name got out there,
and then I started getting messages from people saying that
I wasn't the only man that she had done this too.
Now we're at four or five other men that she's
done this in the past, two as far back as
twenty sixteen. We're finding it might be even earlier than that.
(04:23):
So she is a professional con woman. Not only that,
her family's involved in it, so they're all complicit in
her ways. And so yeah, through all of this we
went to trial. I had the lawyer from the previous victim,
who then helped me win the case, prove that she
(04:44):
was never pregnant with my child, that she had made
the whole thing up.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So we ever pregnant in general?
Speaker 4 (04:49):
No, yeah, no, she was One of my cases end
up being live streamed, which is a blessing in disguise.
I self represented because I just bought a house. I
didn't lawyers are expensive, and so I was like, oh,
this will be easy to prove that she's not pregnant.
She just has to provide evidence. So I went in
self represented, came out of the case. Didn't realize it
was live stream. But on that live stream, why I
wasn't paying attention. She was shifting this fake pregnancy bump around.
(05:12):
So she bought one of those fake belly bumps, and
thankfully that was online and people caught it, and that
was the beginning of the end for her as far
as people realizing that she was full of you know what,
and so we from there. Yeah, I mean, just kept
going back into court and thankfully had a ruling on
back in June or July, Kimmember, which month. But it's
(05:36):
essentially given me an order of an opportunity. So now
she can't claim she's not supposed to be claiming she's
pregnant with my kids or or ever was, because I
could sue her still in debating it, I have every
right to sue her for defamation, but we're just hoping
that the county attorney prosecutes her. They've been investigating her
since June, so they're still actively doing so.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I don't, like, I don't know if this is I
don't want to laugh because this is just so crazy,
like that in moments where this like I can't even
process this story, like I almost want to be like,
you're kidding, like not this is hilarious, but like it
doesn't sound real.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
No, no, and no. But that was that was a
problem so unbelievable that people almost didn't believe me out
the gate because like, why would this woman make this up?
This is ridiculous, and she's got to come with receipts,
like and that's what we all thought. And I mean
there was a point where, even though I didn't believe her,
I thought, either I'm dealing with the craziest woman I've
ever met, or this girl's telling the truth. And it
(06:37):
was the craziest woman I've ever met. But I like
tried to give her the benefit of doubt. I was like,
even like, I don't know, maybe I don't know what's
going on here, but I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
A Christian, I do believe in miraculous conception. However, I
haven't seen it outside of the biblical stories, So that
would that would be some a whole new story to
share if.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
That, and it would be with you know, Joseph in
the situation would be Clayton.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, which you know I would run with. You know,
maybe I would make are out of that, but not
a loss. That wasn't the case.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Okay, need to know what did she seem like the
night that you met her? Like, did she give off
these crazy vibes?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
No, she was totally normal. That was That's a sad
part about it is she could totally have a relationship
and be happy and start a family and she's not
you know, I don't see her as attractive now, but
she's not an ugly woman. And she was totally normal.
Conversation was normal. It wasn't until I told her the
next day after she begged for me to date her
like five times, that I finally said no means no,
(07:40):
stop asking me. And that's when her face glossed over,
went completely dark. Her eyes didn't go black, but it
felt like that. I mean, in that moment, I remember
her staring at me and be like, I get it.
Have a good one. Got out of my car and
I just knew something was off. I just felt really
really bad energy. So no, she could have just had
a normal life. Unfortunately, there's some stuff from her past
(08:01):
obviously that has warped her into who she is and
doesn't help that. Her mom is her accomplice and helps
her along with these things. But there's definitely some past
familial trauma, and unfortunately she's not willing to seek help
for it.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean, I'm imagining there is a lot of pain,
Like any anybody that's gonna do this has a lot
of pain. And so that's the hope on how to
confront that. First off, Now, I do want to transition
here because we are not here to do a deep
dive in actually we are not able to do a
deep dive into Clayton's court.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Kits. All I'm saying is.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Please submit this story to Lifetime and to clarify she
really did fake four or five pregnancies.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yes, yeah, we know of four or five. I don't
there's but then there's now apparently other men. It's just
a matter of like, did she go the full pregnancy
rout of it? Did she just threaten them andferent ways.
So yeah, it's and there's been discussions about a documentary,
but I think everyone's waiting to see what happens with
(09:08):
the County attorney. Of course, like if they decide a
prosecute or not. There has to be some type of ending,
But right now it's just all up in the air. Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
As much as I would love to sit here for
the next forty minutes and talk about Clayton's court case,
that's not why we're here today. We're here to talk
about his time as the Bachelor and then life now,
which obviously the court case is a lot of life now.
The transitioning question will be a little bit about what
we were just talking about before, and then I want
to transition into a few things that happened during your season.
(09:46):
How much has this season of life the last two years?
How much has it felt like it's defined you or
pushed you away from your lead and your time as
the Bachelor, Because we're looking at two years, that's not
that long after you're se and stopped airing, had a
few months buffer there, and then this kind of jumped
into your life, and so how much has this felt
(10:07):
like it's been a cloud or been a defining moment
for you? And you've never really gotten to enjoy the
fruits of the show.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
You know, I'd say where I'm at currently, I'm in
a really great spot. The last two years just weren't
the traditional type of experience for a bachelor. For me,
it was, you know, a cheating accusation right out the gate,
which I disproved, and then it became a second accusation.
So I was, you know, back to back years of
getting accused. Of course, you know, I had a very
(10:40):
interesting end to my season. Certainly could have handled things differently.
I give myself grace now, I mean I really met well,
but I lacked emotional intelligence, and so you know, I
chalked it up to being an a household of three
boys and having no women and not talking about emotions.
So now, nonetheless, that's that's what I've had to learn,
is to develop that. And these last two years I've
(11:03):
grown a lot as a person. Have I been able
to enjoy being the Bachelor? Like certainly and maybe not,
you know as much as other people that had really
great edits and you know, walked out of there and
we're just loved by everybody. But I also think that
that wasn't supposed to be my experience. I needed to
grow up as a human being and there were some
things that areas of my life that I could improve upon,
(11:24):
and that's what the last two years afforded me. I've
done therapy multiple different times. I've gotten into a lot
of healing modalities. I've done breath work, I've done plant medicines.
I've really dove into who I am, and I feel
that I'm finally my most authentic version of myself, which
is completely different than who I was on the Bachelor.
There's certainly remnants of who I was then, but I've
(11:46):
I've changed a lot and so now who I am today,
I'm forever grateful for being I don't feel like I'm
living a facade. Actually feel like I'm the real Clayton
for once. So that's cool. That's a really great feeling.
You know. Unfortunately I had to go through the adversity
to get here, but I also I now I see
it as a blessing. You know. It took me to
(12:07):
the lowest moments of my life, but that's where the
most growth occurs. And so I feel good. Yeah, like
I'm happy, And I will say now that, like I
guess on the other side of it. Now it's like, hey,
I'm authentically me. There's not really opportunities anymore, Like I've
fallen out of the spotlight. But that has been it
(12:27):
was tough at first to just watch like it all
fall off and not really like be relevant, but you know,
because I gotten used to that, always people staying in
my business. But now in the last six months or so,
it's kind of become nice, Like it's allowed me to
acclimate back to normal life, where like people aren't really
paying attention to what I'm doing, not to the degree
(12:47):
they were prior, and so I like that, you know,
I think it's helped me realize that, like all that
extra noise and stuff doesn't really matter. If I get
future opportunities, that's awesome, but I'm not going to lose
myself the same way that I did the first time around.
So long winded answer, but that's all my answer, and now.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Long when it's good and I want to. So we're
a few years removed, and it feels like from talking
to you, kind of your defense defenses are down, like
you're you're not as protective of Hey, you know, I'm
going to blame outside world like many of us do
when we come off the show, right, But you did
(13:24):
use the word edit there, and I want to read
a quote I don't know if you remember this that
you gave in twenty twenty two. It says, watching it back,
I was embarrassed and disgusted by my actions and the
way I was portrayed or seen on TV. Ultimately, I
had to live with the fact that my narrative is
what was shown and that was hard because that's not
really who I am. I don't feel that what I
(13:44):
was on the show is who I truthfully am. But
I did those things. I became that person. So after
what you just said there and reading that quote, what
I'm reading between the lines is are you saying that
you're you weren't who you wanted to be on the show,
or that the edit was it what you wanted to be?
I don't know, like question the story was. And so
(14:08):
for everybody listening now we're two years removed, give clarity
to what exactly went on during your season.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Yeah, well, you want me to walk through as far
as like how the outcome of it or or just
basically just explaining that quote that you just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, the quest I want to I want to know
what we didn't see from people. I want to know
what was missing from the.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Four hours with you guys.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
You guys know I can't talk about.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Some of the NDAs.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Come on now.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah, they're sold and they will come after me. I am.
That quote that you just mentioned was coming from an
ego centric place. At that point, I was under a
lot of dress and so I fell backed into a
corner and I wasn't willing to accept full accountability for
(14:57):
what resulted and what was shown. That being said, I
definitely feel it's a shared sense of accountability what was
shown on TV. There was no body double. It was me,
so that that was me and those were my actions.
But I also there was a lot of things. You know,
again the show, you guys know this. I mean, it's
(15:19):
a two hour episode, but you know two hours in
one episode encapsule, it's four or five days of filming
at you know, fourteen fifteen hours a day, So there's
just missing context. I used to think, you know, or
feel that, you know, they did it out of spite
and try to destroy my character. I now look at
it like, I don't think the producers are that vengeful.
(15:42):
I think they just really tried to create a very
highly emotional season, and I think they realized that people
didn't like me out the gate. They weren't happy I
was chosen as a bachelor, so they were looking for
reasons to hate me. And I think, you know, after
my season, the show was like, you gave us too
much firepower, and if we don't produce it this way,
I mean, we don't want a lukewarm bachelor. We want
(16:03):
either a very beloved bachelor or a hated bachelor. And
in the past, you know, they've they you know, every
so often they go for a bachelor and they kind
of take them down the opposite route. I mean, I think,
you know, I've seen Peter Webber kind of got a similar,
you know, approach in the way that he was portrayed.
Now that being said again, I mean, I don't want
to try to displaced blame here. You know, I took
(16:25):
those actions on the show, and so you know, people
were upset by it. I also think too, though, that
it's not a matter what I will say is like,
I'm not going to defend what I did on the show.
In fact, I now accept full responsibility, and I think
I did what I thought was best at the time.
So I've forgiven myself and that's all that matters. Could
I have done things better, Yeah, in hindsight, sure. But
(16:46):
I also was very emotional to the way that my reaction,
how people responded to me, And it's not that serious.
Now I realized that like people were treating it. I
was getting death threats. People were telling me I was,
you know, all the worst things in the world, stupid,
not deserving, blah blah blah blah. I now realize those
people are extremely overreacting. It's not that serious. Like I
(17:07):
hurt some people on a TV show and I'm sorry
for that, but I mean, this life or death treatment
was ridiculous. So you know, I look at it now
and I'm just like I was a little bit overly sensitive,
and so anytime that anything got brought up, I felt
like the world was coming crashing down on me. And
so that original quote was me trying to place blame
on the shoulders of the show and take it off
(17:29):
me because I'm not a monster. I mean, that's what
some people viewed me as. I also think that the
you know, the loudest people online, it's it's still a minority.
I think there's a majority of people that watched it
and said, like, yeah, that wasn't probably smart, but I
don't think he's a you know, bad guy. I was
really just hyper sensitive to the criticism. So I was
trying to defend my character. And now I realized I was,
(17:52):
like these people were overreacting a lot of them, And
you know, yeah, was I immature in certain senses, yes, absolutely,
But my gosh, it's a TV show like relax. I
didn't I didn't, you know, do something that drastic.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I just you just said, I love you.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You know, it's.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
That tell somebody.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
I mean, I I failed at you know, polyamory or
whatever you want to call it. Like that's why the
show is, you know, like it's date multiple people and
then you try to get back to monogamy and I
I just failed at that. You know, it is what
it is. So I mean I'm like, yeah, would you say, hey,
were you what? Was I a successful bachelor? Not really
by the respect of like I mean, I ended up
alone on the at the end of it, I guess
Susan and I dated for a year, But it is again,
(18:35):
I've just given myself grace it like it is what
it is. It's at the end of the day. It
doesn't define me.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I sure hope it doesn't. I mean, if you're stone
one day said uh clean Eckerd the Bachelor, Uh big
problems in life, buddy.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
To move on, you know, like it's you know, it's
a special experience, and I I mean, I'm forever grateful.
I'm grateful for the show. I don't hold in the
ill will towards them. Did I hold ill? Well, yes,
I did it certain points, and I wanted to like
come out and say, here's all the behind the scenes
stuff that like you guys didn't see on TV because
there was some of that stuff. But it's like the
(19:09):
show has to put in as much as they can
to our windows. So I don't it wasn't malicious why
they left out stuff. I don't think so. And if
somebody dislikes me at ABC whatever, then I guess they do.
But I, you know, I just don't appear I don't
want to hold that at this point. I'm like, forget it.
It is what it is.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Well, you and Grant are actually in similar situations because
you're both chosen to be the Bachelor from not the
top four. You guys were honestly quite random choices from
the top ten. Yeah, why do you think you were chosen?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Why do you think Grant was chosen? Why? What advice?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I that's a lame question in my point of view.
What advice do you have for Grant? But because you
guys are in situations, how do you handle it not
being a main character and becoming the main character?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Yeah? I mean my advice to Grant's just be authentical yourself.
I mean, you can't control people's opinions, and you'll spin
your wheels until you burn off all the tread trying
to do so. I mean that's what I did. I
was trying to convince everybody that, like, wait, this is
why they chose me. You know, I'm just as great
as all the other previous bachelors. I'm not like the reject.
It's like this was still a coveted position, Like I'm
(20:18):
just as good as anybody else. But that was you know,
that was a loss. I mean, that was wasted my
time trying to prove it, and there's no point. So
I would just say, you know, focus on what you
can control and what's outside of your control. Let it
go and just let it play out. I do think ultimately,
karma comes back, and the people that get put up
on pedestals fall off them, and the ones that you
(20:39):
know gets banished to the corner end of climbing back
out and we all settle somewhere in the middle. No
one's as good or as bad as they're perceived on television.
A lot of times there's some middle ground somewhere. So
I would just say, if he focuses on himself and
just you know, whatever you want to do with this experience.
If he wants to leverage it business wise, go for it.
You know. If he finds love awesome, like whatever it is,
(21:00):
don't listen to the noise. You know, a lot of
people are jealous, and they say, all these people come
on for this reason, that reason, whatever, Like we come
on for our reasons that we come on, and we
do what we do with it, And so for forgive
us for taking the opportunity. As far as why I
was chosen, I mean, truthfully, I'm just gonna be honest.
I think I was chosen because I fit what the
(21:20):
demographic really wanted, not you know, the minority online people
blew up and were upset that I was chosen over
men of color. I totally understand that. Why I was
chosen as the eighth guy when there was six men
of color before me, I don't know. It's not my
question answer, but I will say I think that I
fit this mold. They were looking for a six foot
five white dude. I mean, the show Primariage cast white leads,
(21:42):
and I fit that mold. I was, you know, the
guy from the Midwest that on paper checked a lot
of the boxes. And so I think that's why they
made me that. But there was pushback because people were
frustrated that it didn't come from a top four pick.
And I get that. So again I just look at
it like, hey, I accepted the role. I mean, that
was my job. You want to know why I was chosen,
(22:03):
you ask them. But I can tell you that I
see why people were upset, and I don't blame them.
But again, it wasn't my decision to and I didn't
take it away from people. People said, oh, he took
it away from these other people, Like no, they could away.
Yeah no, I was like, I didn't take it away
from people. Those producers could have went to those guys,
you know. So again just my opinion, I think that's unfortunate,
but the show does have to. Like they are trying
(22:25):
to make it work and trying to have diversity and
trying to keep their audience happy. I mean, I know
they're paying attention to it. You know, I've had those
conversations with them. They so they're very, very aware of
what's being said by the public with you know, race
being you know, a topic that's brought up a lot.
I think they just tried to satisfy their the silent
(22:46):
majority of people, and they picked me, and it backfired
because no one knew who I was.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
To transition here a little bit. In the last few
minutes that we have with you, I want to get
into life now, and I want to get into a
few of the more prevalent relationships that came from your
time during this franchise. Gabby, Rachel, and Susie obviously are
the three that we think of when it comes to
your experience. Gabby's in a relationship, Rachel and Susie are
(23:21):
both single. To go back because it feels like my
role today, I'm going to read a quote that Susie
said about you during your trial, and it's interesting. I
want to hear what you think of it. I want
you to break it down for us. She said this.
She said, listen, Clayton might be a lot of things,
but he's not a liar. And that meant a lot
to me. What do you think she meant by Clayton
(23:43):
might be a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Oh, Susie, you know, I'm going to hold off on that.
I think that there was there was reasons why her
and I broke up, and there was equal you know,
there's no blame to be dispersed out, but there's reasons
why it didn't work. From my point of view, with
the way that she acted and vice versa, I haven't
(24:09):
really been in agreeance with a few of the times
that she's made small comments that carry a lot more weight.
I think that that direct quote was one of them.
So I wish Susie the best. I don't think that
comment was necessary in the way it was framed. I
also don't think a few other things she said At
some points it felt like she was trying to make it,
you know, seem like I was the whole reason that
(24:31):
the really ship didn't work. That's the way I perceived it.
I don't know if she meant that or not, but
of course, if you're bringing this up, you know as
a quote, it's you got to wonder, you know, why
was it said that way? It certainly perked people up
into being like, huh, you could have just said Clayton's
not a liar? Why did you say he might be?
Many things? So, you know, I I haven't been in favor,
and I've told her that she's aware at some of
(24:54):
the ways that she's you know, said things, but it
is what it is. You know, she can she can
respond to that accordingly what she meant. I never got,
you know, an answer as far as like what that
meant myself, but I just moved on from it, let
it go. You know, we're not perfect, and at some
points we all say things that in hindsight, we probably
shouldn't have said. So I can forgive her for that
there was. I do it every week.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I do it every week. And I guess Susie is
I'm a little bit behind the times. I think her
and Justin are trying to rekindle something. So maybe when
I said they're both single, they might not be.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Aren't. But I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
But speaking of that, she and Justin had a very
public flirty friendship before coming out as a public couple.
Do you, guys, how did you feel about watching her
with like another bachelor guy, another person in the spotlight.
Was that hard to just see her move on to
somebody that was going to make headlines with her?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
No, not at all. I didn't really feel any type
of way about it. I mean, when Susie and I
broke up, we knew it was never going to ever
be a thing again. So it was just like once
that was severed, you know, we were important in each
other's life to help each other get through, you know,
a traumatic time, and she helped me grow as a person.
But ultimately, like after we had those breakup conversations, I mean,
(26:13):
and after the feeling subsided, it became very much just like, hey,
you know what, we weren't meant to be each other
forever person, So I knew that that day would come
whenever she would date somebody new, and so when I
saw it, it was like, yeah, I mean this this
day was coming. It was inevitable, and I didn't really
feel any type of way about it. I was like, Okay,
good for her.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
The you did this to yourself, you set this up,
and so I don't feel bad about asking this question.
We had an iHeart event and I believe it was.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Moning it two years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Two years ago, Rachel was there. You guys did a
video to get the world talking, and they talked. It
was kind of a flirty video.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
And we saw them kind of flurried place.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
You guys have deep mystery going on. So we just
talked about Susie, talked a little bit about Gabby Rachel.
You and Rachel stay in contact. Is there any uh,
you know, fuel still to the potential flame that could
be the two of you.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I don't really keep in contact with her. I'm not
sure what she's doing these days, but I will say that, Yeah,
I hear people talk like they always wonder if if
the two of us would have would have made sense together.
And I don't think people will be asking that question
(27:36):
much much longer. I think.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Not just a lot of that Oh oh, because somebody
is in a relationship here. I think it's Clayton. I
think it's Clayton.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
I mean, why would he?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, I think it's Clayton. Clayton's going to come out
with a relationship announcement. Do you just want to do it?
Speaker 4 (27:51):
On the show?
Speaker 1 (27:52):
A lot of listeners, a lot of people could get
some real excitement if you just tell us who I'm not.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
I'm not just I'm not going to drop any bombshells today. No,
there's could be a talking to somebody in relationship, could
not be I could have you know, whatever, things will
make sense. I'll put it this way. People will get
an answer at some point here, So in as far
as you like engaged what I'm alluding to. No, No,
I'll just I'll just answers will be clear at some point.
(28:22):
I just that's all I'll say.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Gracious, such a cliffhanger for us, but I'm glad that
we at least got that tease. I mean, there's something
happening in your life that no longer allows you to
be in relationship with Rachel. So yeah, that's exciting. Congratulations Cleaton.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Life is exciting. I never up my sleeves, so yeah,
there's something's coming all right.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Well.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
In the teasers for The Traders, in which Gabby is in,
she calls herself a lesbian, but in twenty twenty three
she said, I guess I'm bisexual would be the most
honest label for me. I don't know, but after dating
a woman. I feel so connected to my girlfriend. That's
what's most important to me. I don't believe in labels,
but I don't know if I could ever date a
(29:09):
man again. Would you ever thought that this would be
after being with Gabby? Fantasy suites and such?
Speaker 4 (29:17):
I wow? I mean I know that, like Gabby, she
shared a lot of things with me about her life,
and of course, you know the things that are off camera,
you know, stay off camera. You know, she confided in
(29:39):
me with different things. I won't say that she convided
me with about sexuality. That was not I'm not alluding
to that, but I you know, I know that she
had you know, there was parts of her life growing
up that were tough and challenging for her, and you
know that she was coping with and so I was
surprised to like have her come out. But I again,
(30:01):
I mean, how do you It's like, I think people
wrestle with that a lot of times. You know, I
think there's not the stigma's not there like it used
to be used to. You know, people would be embarrassed
to come out and say that, you know, they they
are gay or bisexual, whatever it may be. And I
think it's just more accepted now, So I'm sure she
was wrestling with it for some time and then but
when she came out, I was like, Okay, I mean,
(30:22):
I guess we're getting all used to people like coming
out and making statements like this, and so it's just
not as surprising as maybe if she came out twenty
years ago or whatever. So yeah, I mean, at the
time I spent with her, I felt like we had
a strong connection and I really did, you know, have
strong feelings for her. I think she's just trying to
figure out what's best for her, you know. So this
(30:43):
is a part of our journey.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
In the final question that we have for you today,
We've covered a lot of topics here, Clayton. Obviously, we've
covered a court case. We've covered your time as the Bachelor.
We've covered the past relationships that are always so fun
to talk about. We've covered your personal growth, and now
I want to cover where you're at today. And so
my question for you is two. Part one is how
(31:07):
are you personally?
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I'm great, I honestly, I mean am happy. I got
a lot of things cooking. Uh, and there's just baby cooking.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
You might as well just tell us or create all
these ideas in everybody's heads, and it's just like.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
I like, that's fine, she can't. I like playing games.
I mean I was doing this when I was on
the batch, and I was dropping hints on my Instagram
to certain that I was with Susie and people. I
was trying to you know, I was posting photos of
like me standing by the bedside and like you could
see her leg in the like her a leg outline.
I was playing. I love playing these little psychological games.
So this is just fun I'm doing. I'm just I'm
just doing right now. So she wants to if she
(31:52):
wants to spark up, it doesn't. I'll just say that,
you know, there's people. Yeah, there's gonna be some fun
things that are that that will come out and do time.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Well, it's it's cool to see you be excited about something.
My final question for you is, uh, what are you
looking forward to in the next few years. You've had
I mean, no matter what, this has been a I
know you've had personal growth. I know there's been good
things to this. If you lay out the timeline of
the last three years of your life, it's it's had
some rocky moments and a lot that you couldn't control.
(32:27):
So as we look forward now to three years, four years,
five years, what are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4 (32:31):
The most? I would say what came top of mind
is like every year, I choose a word that I
focus on for myself. Last year it was, you know, rebirth.
I chose that word. I wanted to become my most
authentic self. I feel like I've acquired you know, acquired
that now and this year it's redemption. So that was
the word I chose, and I'm looking forward to what
(32:53):
all that means in my life, which again it's it's
it's I'm excited because I feel like life is still
challenging as it always is, but you know, this new
me is is bringing a lot of opportunity and energy
my way that I've always you know, wished that I
had come this my direction that now is So it's
kind of like, you know, what you push out is
(33:14):
what you attract, and that's what I'm finding. So I'm
really excited to continue watching more things that are meant
for me arrive at my doorsteps. So that's that's going
to keep dancing I out of it. Yeah, I told
my I've stepped it up to four times a week
now from two. So I told my dance instructor, I
actually want to learn to dance, not like do TikTok dances,
(33:36):
because at first I was posting some stuff and it was,
you know, more to build confidence. Now I'm actually trying
to become decent at dancing and like learn to actually
move and so I don't. Yeah, I set like a
six to seven month timeline on it. I told my instructor.
At you know, at the end of these seven months
four days a week, I'll reassess as far as like
if I want to continue, I'm really going all that.
(33:56):
I mean, it's fun, it's a hobby. So it's you know,
it's just like for me, it's become like what my
what lifting weights is. I'm like, it's just a hobby
that I'm pouring into and you know, not posting as
much online about it because I'm actually just learning to
do like grooves and all that. So I think it's.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Training for Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Fifth Star that you're like the only bachelor that hasn't
been chosen for Dancing with the Stars and it's your hobby.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Is that what it is? And I know you're.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Not I'm thinking about others. It's like Zach wasn't it?
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Yeah? Was Peter Webber? I don't think he was either,
was he?
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Oh my gosh? How did Peter not do that out covid?
Speaker 4 (34:30):
I think I saw Peter was doing some dance videos
on on Instagram or TikTok at one point, so I'm
sure he's I'm sure he him and I are just
by sitting here fuming every day, being like, just give
us a chance, ye, bring it soon for a guest
appearance if nothing else, just let let us tap on
the floor for like five minutes and I'll be good.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Hey, Clayton, thanks for joining us today. We wish you
the best as this you know, year of what was
your word this year? Redemption? No redemption, redemption, redemption. Year
of Redemption continues, Thanks for joining us, and the countdown
to the Bachelor continues with more special guests and more
(35:09):
leads that we're catching up with as we go. But
until next time, I've been Ben, I've been Ashley.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
See follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts
on iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Ben Higgins
Ashley Iaconetti
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