Clayton Echard is speaking out after the woman who accused him of fathering her unborn twins pleaded guilty to four felonies.
Laura Owens filed a paternity lawsuit against the former The Bachelor star in 2023, saying that he fathered her twins during a one-night stand. Weeks later, Clayton took a paternity test, which proved that he was not the father.
Last week, Laura pleaded guilty to four felony charges connected to the scheme. EW reports that she pleaded guilty to “two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of taking the identity of another, and one count of perjury.” Sentencing will happen on September 30.
Clayton took to his Instagram page to react to the guilty plea.
“Yesterday was a major moment in the paternity scandal case that I’ve been dealing with for the last three-and-a-half years. Yesterday, Laura agreed to plead to four felony charges. So it’s the first time that we’ve seen Laura take any accountability in this matter,” Clayton said in a video message.
He added, “Upon the ending of yesterday’s court hearing, I found myself telling the other guys, the other victims, it was anticlimactic what occurred yesterday. I felt numb and emotionless. I couldn’t understand why that was… My healing was not contingent upon what happened yesterday.”
“I’m grateful for this entire experience,” he said. “I know that sounds backwards, but the amount of resilience that I’ve built through all of this, the community that I found within all of this adversity, the power of presence that I’ve gained, the insight — everything that has come from all of this — I would do it 1,000 times over. I would, because I’m proud of the man that I’ve become through it all, and I wouldn’t have become this version of me without the adversity. I’ve already found the silver lining. It does not really matter to me what happens to Laura at this point.”
Clayton does think that Laura needs to go to jail, where he hopes she can “rehabilitate.”
“I want Laura to heal, I want Laura to see brighter days. I don’t want to see Laura rot in prison,” he said.
Clayton recently revealed how much money he earns from making Cameo videos for fans.
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