Bachelor in Paradise's Kendall Long Felt Blindsided By Joe Amabile Breakup

Kendall Long is opening up about her recent breakup with Joe Amabile on an episode of her podcast, "Down to Date."

By Pamela Avila Feb 11, 2020 10:00 PMTags
Kendall Long, Joe AmabileABC/Paul Hebert

Kendall Long is opening up about her recent split with Joe Amabile

The Bachelor in Paradise couple called it quits in January after the two "decided mutually to go [their] separate ways." 

In a statement to BachelorNation.com, the duo wrote, "Joe has made the decision to move back to Chicago while Kendall will be remaining in her hometown of Los Angeles. Our family and friends have always been an extremely important element to who we are as people. We can't imagine continuing our lives without them closer, especially when thinking of starting a family of our own one day. We both respect each other's decision and still have a great deal of love for each other. We appreciate all the love and support everyone has given us throughout our relationship."

Now, nearly two weeks after the split Long is breaking her silence about the breakup during an episode of her "Down to Date" podcast. In short, Long felt blindsided by the breakup and "did not see it coming." 

"Every relationship has issues but I feel like, with Joe and I, we were best friends. Everything was fun, we were getting a dog together. We had just moved in," the BiP star added. "Ultimately what happened was that Joe felt like he would have a better [life] in Chicago."

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Bachelor in Paradise's Joe Amabile and Kendall Long Break Up

Long explained that despite their split, "there's still a lot of love and respect." She also shared that she's not "upset with him" nor does she resent him for his decision. 

"I understand the dress of living somewhere like L.A. away from your family," she said during the episode. "That was also a huge reason why I didn't see myself moving from L.A. at least at that point in my life."

The split wasn't only a shocker to Long, fans of the two were also surprised by the news. The two had fallen in love on season five of BiP and while they went their own ways at the end of the show, they reunited after Long traveled to Chicago to give her romance with Amabile another shot. Since then, the two have been inseparable, have moved in together and even discussed the possibility of marriage.

When teasing the podcast episode on Instagram, Long wrote, "Talking about breakups is never fun but having one of my closest friends join me for this episode of 'Down to Date' makes it easier to be vulnerable. One thing I always try to remember is that the end of something never means that it was not beautiful and worth experiencing. Thank you for all your continued empathy and support through this."

During the episode, Long also expressed that she "literally" thought she and Amabile were going to get married. In an interview with E! News last year, Long said, "I don't think I have a rush but whenever it's right, it's right. We talk about engagement. Engagement has been a part of our entire relationship so we're very comfortable with it. We're excited to find a time that works for both of us." 

She added, during the podcast, "If anyone knows me, I'm not the person that plans my wedding and I was literally doing that with Joe. But something weird about ending something with someone that you thought you were going to marry is almost... you feel like you have such a better idea of what you're looking for."