- "Bachelorette" star
Katie Thurston andBlake Moynes have split just three months after the finale. - Moynes told Insider in August that he believed getting engaged had made the couple stronger.
Less than three months after their engagement aired on the season finale of "The Bachelorette," Katie Thurston and Blake Moynes have called it quits.
The couple announced their shocking split on Monday with identical statements posted to their Instagram accounts.
"It is with mutual love and respect that we have decided to go our separate ways," it read. "We ultimately have concluded that we are not compatible as life partners, and it is the most caring choice for both of us to move forward independently."
Shortly after Thurston's season came to an end in August, the 30-year-old told Us Weekly that she believed she and Moynes wouldn't work as a couple if they hadn't gotten engaged, saying "I didn't come here to find a boyfriend."
And Moynes agreed, telling Insider at the time that he believed getting engaged made the couple stronger after the show.
"When you walk away with just a boyfriend, it's not as big of a commitment and promise that an engagement is," Moynes said. "It kind of holds you to all the craziness that comes with this, and I think an engagement kind of helped us battle through more things than just walking out being in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship - which doesn't carry the same weight."
Moynes also revealed that, during his very first conversation with Thurston on "The Bachelorette," she asked him if he would be ready to get engaged despite entering her season late.
"My response to her was, 'Yes, if I come on here and do this, I do see us getting engaged at the end of this,'" he recalled.
After looking at engagement rings during the season finale, Moynes was struggling to decide if he should pop the question. But that first conversation with Thurston stuck with him.
"I think it speaks a lot to that loyalty and sticking to your word," Moynes told Insider. "When you're thinking about your forever person and partner you rely on, you take their word seriously. And that's something I came down to at the end. Like no, I'm not letting her down. This is something I also came here for, smarten up, don't overthink the situation."
While the couple temporarily got their fairytale ending, fans of the show couldn't stop talking about Thurston's explosive breakup with contestant Greg Grippo during the season. Some even criticized Moynes and Thurston's engagement, insisting their relationship wouldn't last because her split with Grippo was such a big focus of the season.
Moynes told Insider at the time that he believed his own love story with "The Bachelorette" star had been overshadowed by the drama.
"I do think that the whole Greg thing did take away from the love story unfortunately," Moynes said. "It sucks that it was such a focal point for someone who didn't actually end up with her."
"Unfortunately, it just kind of is what it is for people who think it should've been Greg," he added. "I guess you gotta wait and see."