July 21, 2021 • bachelor insider
Clay Harbor Reacts to Cousin Andrew S.'s Breakup with Katie Thurston on 'The Bachelorette'
Katie Thurston’s relationship with Andrew S. came to a dramatic conclusion on Monday night’s episode of “The Bachelorette.”
As viewers witnessed, Katie sent Andrew home but asked him to rejoin the competition for her heart after reconsidering her feelings for the handsome football player. Andrew ultimately decided to walk away — a move that made his cousin and fellow Bachelor Nation star Clay Harbor proud.
“You got to realize that he just got his heart broken. And in that setting, you know, you want someone to pick you and there’s still four guys left,” Clay said in a recent interview with Us Weekly. “And that would be putting a lot on yourself. If you go back, there’s a good chance it’ll happen again, like, setting yourself [up] for heartbreak all over again.”
The Chicago native — who appeared on Becca Kufrin’s Season 14 of “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise” Season 6 — added, “So I think he did the right thing in leaving and saying, you know, ‘If this doesn’t work out for you, like, let’s talk and see if this can be something that could happen.'”
When Andrew declined Katie’s invitation to come back, social media lit up with mixed reactions. While many fans expressed hope that the pair might give their romance a second shot, some were happy to see Andrew remove himself from a potentially painful situation.
“Seeing some of the people on social media be like, ‘You had a chance to go back. He didn’t care.’ Like, no, he got let go. And he doesn’t want to put himself back in that situation again, where you can break his heart again,” Clay told Us Weekly. “[If she said], ‘No, I want to be with you and only you,’ then I think that’s when he would have obviously left with her and been with her. But I think he handled it perfectly in my opinion.”
Though Andrew didn’t win Katie’s final rose, he is grateful to have formed a connection with the Season 17 lead.
“Katie thank you for reassuring my belief in love. Your strength as a woman set the tone for 30 men to be open and vulnerable something not easily done for men,” he wrote in a Tuesday Instagram post. “And for that it brought the guys in the house closer and some to being really good friends of mine. You and I shared many real conversations coupled with real romance that sparked discussions in living rooms and left some smitten over our connection. So lastly (British voice) Hello love, i am truly thankful for you allowing me to experience your type of love.”
