While Kelley Flanagan and Peter Weber are broken up, the drama surrounding their split is far from over.
In a video shared to YouTube on May 28, the former Bachelor contestant addressed some of her ex's recent claims.
"Usually, I'd let it slide," she told viewers. "But when there are things out there that are misconstrued, I'm always going to stick up for myself as I think everyone else should."
For those who aren't part of Bachelor Nation, here's what happened: Kelley met Peter on season 24 of The Bachelor. And while she didn't receive his final rose, Kelley began dating Peter after the show (and his relationships with former fiancée Hannah Ann Sluss and fellow contestant Madison Prewett) ended. The two even made plans to move to New York together.
So, many fans were shocked when the former couple called it quits. Peter broke the news on New Year's Eve, noting their "relationship simply didn't work out in the end," and Kelley confirmed the split in early January, saying they were in "two different stages" and saw their "future paths differently."
During a March interview for the Off the Vine With Kaitlyn Bristowe podcast, Kelley said she asked Peter to hold off on announcing their split for a few days so she could tell her family and friends and process it all, a request, she noted that "wasn't granted." And after seeing a number of articles about the breakup and telling their manager to have Peter stop spreading his "narrative" about the split, Kelley decided to give her take on how things went down.
At the time, Kelley said the romance ended because there were "just a lot of non-negotiables in the relationship."
"Actions kind of speak louder than words, and it takes a long time to figure that out," she told Kaitlyn. "If there was something that I saw as disrespectful in the relationship, I would speak on it and I was pretty vocal."
And while she said there wasn't anything "massive" that led to the breakup, she admitted the exes had been "struggling and having hard times."
In April, Peter told E! News he and Kelley were "not in contact anymore." The following month, Kelley appeared on the podcast Chicks in the Office. And while she acknowledged the reality stars had different interests that contributed to their split, she also said things "ended really badly" after they hung out again in New York in February, with the attorney telling the pilot to "get the hell out of my life."
That same month, Peter issued a response on his podcast Bachelors in the City. "I thought it was very calculated," he said at the time about her latter interview. "I thought, after hearing how it went, that it was very trying to push for a headline. Like I said, very just calculated, very disingenuous."
However, Kelley told her YouTube followers "the bear was poked" and said Peter was giving his opinion "with no facts behind it." She also claimed Peter reached out to her two weeks ago but that there was "no need" and that she was "drawing a healthy boundary."
"It sucks," she said in her YouTube video. "Because there are some exes you could look back on and say you had a great relationship with and you still have respect for them and you wish them the best. But in my scenario, when something happens that's extremely disrespectful, you have to know your worth and you have to sit there and say, 'Good luck to you. I wish you the best in the future, but I just don't necessarily want you in my life.' And that's OK. You don't have to be on great pages with everyone. It sucks 'cause no one likes to be out there and know that they have tension with someone, which I can't stand. But at the same time, like, I just don't want to be pulled back into that."
In fact, she said she actually applauded Peter, who has said Kelley was the best relationship he's ever had and that he wished her well, for also saying "extremely kind" things about her and their time together.
"I just think I would have respected him more if he didn't accuse me of trying to hit headlines that has to deal with him," she continued. "Again, he had nothing behind that to say that. That's just his opinion, I guess, which is very sad. Because if I listened to that podcast and heard all the great things he said about me I'd be like, 'Wow, he's being really mature in this situation and I really respect him.' But it saddens me to know that that's not how he could act even after how things ended….[It] makes me sad that it's the scenario. But it also gives me reassurance that this is how I need to draw a healthy boundary because I don't want to be associated with that."
All in all, she's hoping "all of this can just be done" soon.
"I'm never going to let anyone speak a narrative for me and kind of, like, put out their storyline and just have me play along with it," she said. "I think some of my answers were not liked because it didn't play along with the storyline that was being portrayed. But it's my life too, and I think that I'm never going to let anyone create my narrative."