Did Bachelorette Katie Thurston Just Accuse Greg Grippo Of Gaslighting Her?
Although ABC has a tradition of claiming each new season of "The Bachelor" franchise will be the most dramatic one yet, the network was certainly right this time around (via Showbiz CheatSheet).
Leading lady Katie Thurston's season of "The Bachelorette" has been brimming with drama since it was announced. From shocking eliminations to discoveries of contestants with bad intentions, to Thurston's threat of an early exit, Season 17 kept viewers on their toes. As we near the end of the 30-year-old' journey, emotions are reaching an all-time high.
During hometowns week, Thurston had an opportunity to meet front-runner Greg Grippo's mother, brother, and best friend (via Variety). The New Jersey-themed date featured a tandem bicycle ride and a trip to the basketball court, where Grippo connected with Thurston over their mutual loss of their fathers. After a positive conversation between Thurston and Grippo's family, things went south for the couple.
Katie shared an informative Instagram post
After spending a magical day together, Greg Grippo told Katie Thurston that he was "in love" with her and implied he was ready for an engagement (via Page Six). However, the bachelorette didn't reciprocate this statement, as she made a strict rule at the beginning of the season that she would reserve the word "love" for the finale. Instead, Thurston told Grippo, "I just love looking at you." This interaction lead the marketing sales representative to pay a surprise visit to Thurston's hotel room and resulted in an argument and a tearful break-up.
After the episode aired, Thurston took to social media to share a post about "gaslighting". On her Instagram stories she reposted an explainer from the account @soyouwanttotalkabout, which defined "gaslighting" as, "a form of emotional abuse or psychological manipulation involving distorting the truth in order to confuse or instill doubt in another person to the point they question their own sanity or reality." During Thurston's final conversation with Grippo, she noted that she was confused about Grippo's anger and couldn't comprehend what she did to upset him (via Us Magazine). Considering Thurston shared this post immediately after Grippo left the show and @soyouwanttotalkabout includes deflecting blame and discrediting as signs of gaslighting, it appears as though the bachelorette is accusing her ex of gaslighting her.