October 06, 2023 • bachelor insider
Chelsea Vaughn Shares Emotional Details About Her Split with Austin Tinsley and Their Joint Apartment
Getting candid.
The Season 2 of “Bachelor in Paradise Canada” just aired, and many of our favorite Bachelor Nation stars found love on-screen!
Chelsea Vaughn from Season 25 of “The Bachelor” and Austin Tinsley from Season 17 of “The Bachelorette” left the show as a couple.
After the show, Austin moved in with Chelsea to her New York City apartment and they recently got a place together in New Jersey, where they were starting their lives together.
So fans were shocked last month when they shared the news that they split, and now Chelsea is taking to her podcast “Vaughnerable” to open up more about their breakup.
She started off by saying, “I just feel like I kind of have to talk about it because it’s happening and I can’t really pretend like it’s not. Austin and I have decided to end our relationship. That is not something that either one of us saw coming. Obviously, I have been very open in sharing all of our relationship. We literally just started posting each other and so it feels like whiplash.”
Chelsea said the show was filmed around a year ago despite it just airing, so she and Austin have actually been together much longer than it seems if you just watched the show.
The Bachelor Nation star said, “It feels like a very short-lived romance Internet-wise, but obviously we are real people and it was a very real relationship and it’s been over a year. As much as it feels quick, it wasn’t quick. The decision wasn’t made lightly. I don’t have any plans to get into the nitty-gritty of what happened and why it happened. That’s unnecessary, and out of respect to me and Austin and our relationship, I’m not going to do that. It was amicable, though, as amicable as a breakup can be. We very much still care about each other, and we’re both very sad.”
Chelsea shared that this entire experience has been extremely emotional for her and she got choked up on the podcast.
She said, “I cried at the leasing office telling the real estate agent that he moved, I cried into my salad, I cried into my sunglasses during Fashion Week, I cried on this podcast couch last week. I can’t stop crying. It’s really hard. I don’t really know what to say here.”
She went on, “I think that sometimes both parties can try as hard as you possibly can and it’s still not going to work. It had absolutely nothing to do with how we feel about each other. There are just certain aspects that weren’t working and bigger things that were incompatible that aren’t going to work long-term. This really couldn’t have been prevented.”
And while things have felt heavy, she said they both have no regrets and really tried their hardest to make it work.
She said, “I think if he hadn’t moved or if we hadn’t moved in together, we would’ve felt like we didn’t really see it through and I would definitely have some regrets. I would be wondering what if. So that’s where it’s at. Obviously, people are invested and I was trying not to think about that because this is my life.”
Chelsea shared on her Instagram page that she is looking to sublet the apartment that she and Austin just rented together and she thanked fans for their support.
She wrote, “I thought going through this publicly would make it 500x harder, but it’s actually the opposite. All of your messages today have made me feel so much less alone. We are literally all going through something and it brings me joy knowing that sharing my feelings can make even just one person feel seen. Love you guys so much, thank you.”
We’re continuing to send both Chelsea and Austin love as they navigate this new chapter separately.
Check out more of Chelsea’s podcast here.