Former lead of Clayton Echard is coming to with and finally taking responsibility for the impact his decisions had during his season. Throughout The Bachelor's 26 seasons there have been many unfavorable leads, but none that started out as hopeful as Clayton. While Clayton wasn't the most interesting Bachelor, he wasn't considered the worst either. That is until fantasy suite week. Clayton told all three women he was in love with them and even was intimate with the first two, Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey. When the last one, Susie Evans, was hurt by his previous actions, he all but blamed her for what he did.
After telling the other women what he had done, Clayton convinced them to stay claiming he could see a future with both of them. Only for The Bachelorette. Meanwhile, Clayton, and his now girlfriend Susie, have been doing damage control.
The former lead has been justifying his actions and sidestepping responsibility since the season aired, but in a new Instagram post, Clayton commented on Susie's photo. "In this moment, I was at rock bottom." The aforementioned picture only shows the back of Clayton, as he pensively stares out the window. Clayton goes on to say his expectations for his time as the Bachelor were so different from where he ended up. The harsh reality has allowed him to self-reflect, and in that time he was able to recognize how horribly he'd acted, even after the show. He owned up to trying to deflect criticism and defend his "character" rather than just accepting his actions were poor.
When Clayton was previously asked about how he feels having hurt Gabby and Rachel, Clayton often excused his actions by saying he never "intended" to hurt anyone. However, now he accepts the reality, "I hurt people. Sure, I didn’t have any intention of doing so and 'did what I thought was best by following my heart,' but I still hurt people." Clayton goes on to explain through therapy and a lot of self-reflection he's been able to come to these conclusions. And while he now takes responsibility, he's still giving himself "grace" and understanding. He ends the lengthy post by thanking anyone who gave him constructive criticism, explaining without those people, "I would still be focused on defending my character, instead of building upon it."
As many fans have pointed out, Clayton was the wrong person to be a Bachelor lead. He had never been in love before, and clearly had trouble distinguishing it from other feelings. Clayton thought being the lead of The Bachelor would be a self-journey and didn't consider how his actions would affect others. Above all else, he was oblivious, and at times that was more dangerous than being outright cruel. He needed a rude awakening, and it's safe to say he got it. The fact that Clayton himself was able to come to that conclusion is inspiring.
Source: Clayton Echard/Instagram