The Bachelor alum Rachael Kirkconnell opened up about her split from ex-boyfriend Matt James in a recent appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
Rachael, 28, claimed that Matt, 33, was “adamant that [she] had a hard time admitting [she] was wrong or taking accountability.”
She also revealed that part of the reason she felt so blindsided by her breakup with Matt was because it stemmed from a smaller argument that became a bigger “can of worms.” The Georgia native said that she got upset after choosing a restaurant that was disappointing and Matt wouldn’t be able to create content for his food review venture. However, she claimed Matt was seemingly annoyed by her reaction.
“He was just trying to tell me, ‘It’s not that serious; it’s not that big of a deal,” Rachael told Alex Cooper during the Tuesday, January 28, episode. “Then he was concerned about me getting so upset. He was trying to tell me, ‘There was no reason for you to get upset like that.’ He found it concerning that I got that emotional, I guess. He was just trying to express to me, ‘If you get emotional about little things like this, what is going to happen in life when something really terrible happens? How are you going to be able to react to things that are actually really scary or disappointing or sad?’”
Rachael thought they had put their argument to bed, and the next morning she explained that Matt seemed fine. She admitted that they may have had a couple of little arguments throughout the day, but it was nothing that set off any alarm bells in her head. By the end of the day, Rachael claimed they were both snapping at each other. When Matt eventually asked her what was wrong, she expressed that she didn’t want to talk about anything at the moment because she felt like he was “annoyed with her.”
“We skipped lunch [and] we went back to the hotel and just ended up having a bigger conversation,” Rachael continued. “He really just kind of let out everything that, I guess, he had been feeling for a while. He said that at the end of the day there were just qualities about me that he worries about having in a wife and there are things that we aren’t compatible with and, like, the whole accountability and saying sorry and all that.”
The graphic designer said that she felt as though Matt had “this realization” that he should have “wanted to propose” to her by that point in their relationship and that he “couldn’t see himself proposing” to her.
“He said that maybe one day he would get there,” Rachael told Alex, 30, while holding back tears. “But he doesn’t feel ready now.”
Matt and Rachael met in 2021 during his season of The Bachelor. While Matt didn’t propose in the season finale, the two still left the show as a couple. Rachael soon found herself at the center of a racism scandal, and she and Matt parted ways. However, they reunited a few months later. Matt announced their recent breakup via Instagram on January 16.
