By Page Six | Created at 2025-01-29 04:42:03 | Updated at 2025-01-30 08:04:38
1 day ago
“Bachelor” alum Rachael Kirkconnell revealed why Matt James ended their four-year relationship during their trip to Tokyo earlier this month.
“It was definitely out of nowhere,” the reality star shared on Tuesday’s episode of “Call Her Daddy.” “He said that at the end of the day, there were just qualities about me that he worries about having in a wife.”
“There are things that we aren’t compatible with,” she continued, claiming James believed she had trouble taking accountability for her mistakes.
Kirkconnell, however, claimed she would always be the one to apologize when they fought, even if she wasn’t at fault.
“It was just one of those things where he, I think, just had this realization that ‘I should want to propose to you by this time.’
“‘Like, at this point in our relationship, I should be wanting those things and I should be ready for that. But I’m not still, I still don’t feel like we’re ready or I don’t feel like I’m ready. I don’t know if I ever see myself proposing to you. I can’t actually see myself married to you.'”
Kirkconnell, 28, also claimed James, 33, told her she wasn’t his “perfect” person.
The Georgia College alum shared she left Tokyo earlier than her now-ex-boyfriend and received a notification about James’ breakup post right before her plane took off.
Kirkconnell explained she didn’t have time to talk to anyone about the post, saying she was left without service throughout the 12-hour flight.
She also revealed James’ “heat of the moment” breakup came after a tear-filled dinner date.
“Everything was fine, the night before, we didn’t have an argument but I was feeling very overwhelmed,” she said. “I was trying so hard to find a good dinner spot … on top of that, I just started my period. I felt terrible. I was just having a rough few hours.”
Kirkconnell claimed that since James is a food influencer she wanted to find a good spot for him to review.
At one point, she recalled asking James for help picking a restaurant, which he refused to do, insisting it wasn’t a big deal.
“So we get to this place, it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be,” Kirkconnell said. “It was just one of those things where I’m tired, cranky, emotional, on my period, feeling terrible, overwhelmed with looking for a dinner spot for an hour and we get there and it was just a disappointment.”
“I started tearing up at dinner,” she continued, explaining it was only a few tears and she was done.
Kirkconnell alleged that James didn’t say anything to her their entire meal until they returned to their hotel.
At that point, she attempted to hug James, but he wasn’t receptive and questioned why she was upset.
“I explained to him, ‘I felt like I let you down. I felt like that was disappointing and I hate going to a place that isn’t somewhere you can post about,'” Kirkconnell recalled.
James, however, insisted it wasn’t “that serious” and discussed his concerns with Kirkconnell being emotional.
The TV personality shocked fans when he shared that he and Kirkconnell had parted ways via an Instagram post, which included a prayer and a photo of the exes in front of the Bachelor Nation mansion in 2021.
“Father God, give Rachael and I strength to mend our broken hearts,” he captioned the picture. “Give us a peace about this decision to end our relationship that transcends worldly understanding.”
At the time, the Season 25 “Bachelor” star disabled the comments and tagged Kirkconnell.
Initially, fans speculated that James had been “hacked” after he shared a video of himself and Kirkconnell in London the previous day.
“With all due respect, the math ain’t mathing on this one Matt,” one person commented on the clip.
Kirkconnell, meanwhile, last posted about the marathon runner for his birthday on Dec. 5, 2024, referring to him as her “teammate” and “the man that has [her] whole heart.”
The influencer, however, seemingly confirmed that she was caught off guard by the breakup when she “liked” an Instagram comment that read, “The more I’m thinking about it the more I think he completely blindsided her with this.”
Kirkconnell’s friends and family were also reportedly confused and “trying to get to the bottom of what happened,” an insider told the US Sun.
Per the source, the Bachelor Nation alum “didn’t know” that James was going to post about their breakup and “definitely wouldn’t have approved of it if she did.”
“She thinks it’s just as weird as everyone else does. She’s humiliated that’s how the news came out,” the source continued.
The exes met on Season 25 of “The Bachelor” when James was the leading man, but they briefly called off their romance over race issues in March 2021.
A few months later, they rekindled their relationship and were going strong until recently.
