Opening up.

Rodney Mathews first stole Bachelor Nation fans’ hearts on Season 18 of “The Bachelorette” and he continued to do so on Season 8 of “Bachelor in Paradise.”

Sadly, Rodney left the beaches of “Paradise” without the fairy-tale love story ending he was hoping for.

Now, he’s stopping by the “Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation” podcast, where he opened up about some criticism he’s faced online this week.

Fans saw Rodney leave the beach heartbroken after Eliza decided to leave and pursue her relationship with Justin instead of theirs.

Some people are asking how what Eliza did is any different than how Rodney handled his breakup with Lace earlier in the season.

Co-hosts Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo asked Rodney if he had any thoughts on the backlash and Rodney got candid with his response.

The fan favorite Bachelor Nation star said, “I’ve seen some of those comments about me doing the same thing to Lace that Eliza did to me. At the end of the day, as much love as I’m going to get, I will take the same amount of criticism as well. At the time down there on the beach, my relationship with Lace didn’t compare to what I had with Eliza. It was a completely different level.”

Rodney went on, adding, “With Lace, I’m glad that I did get to address this more at the reunion. Lace is an amazing person and it was nice getting to know her. She was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know her at all before stepping onto the beach. I had no idea who she was. Whereas on the flip side, I knew of Eliza. Eliza was by far on the top of my list of people I wanted to see. I hoped at some point she would be there.”

He also discussed how he and his good friend Andrew Spencer both tried to follow their hearts and both ended up getting hurt at the end.

Rodney said, “We wanted to obey the rules, but I was saving all my energy for when I saw Eliza at the beach, and I wanted to give it my all. I wanted to have the love stories just like alumni we’ve seen be successful from this franchise. We knew the potential of that and that’s why I went there with a hopeful heart. I’m a hopeless romantic.”

And Rodney got real, noting, “I want to be honest with you guys here and now about how it was amazing getting to know Lace, but with Eliza I knew I would fight for her and give her my all.”

Mike and Bryan asked Rodney if he communicated his excitement about Eliza potentially coming to “Paradise” to Lace at all while they were together.

Rodney said, “I did let Lace know the day of split week. It was probably about 20 minutes before Jesse Palmer pulled us and we had no idea what would happen next. But I did make sure that I had a conversation with Lace. It did seem like we were getting closer, which was nice, but I did want to be honest with her.”

He continued on, saying, “I said, ‘If Eliza walks down, I do want to take a date with her because she’s the number one on my list.’ I couldn’t believe the timing. Everything happens for a reason. I am so glad that Lace remembered that and we talked about it at the reunion. She did remember that conversation and knew that I let her know about wanting to meet Eliza.”

To hear more of Rodney’s conversation with Mike and Bryan, check out the full episode of “Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation” below.