Weekend: Men Are Wearing Thigh-High Boots Now 👢

Even if you’re not a card-carrying member of Bachelor Nation, you’ve probably heard about Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell’s sudden split — and the subsequent Call Her Daddy interview. For those who haven’t dedicated their lives to the Bachelor franchise, some background: In 2021, James, the first Black Bachelor, gave his final rose to Kirkconnell. Despite one breakup (notably, after photos of her attending an antebellum-themed college party surfaced online), the two had seemingly been together ever since — which, by Bachelor standards, basically means they’re Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. That is, until January 16, when James shared one of the weirdest breakup posts in Instagram history. Internet sleuths did what they do best — theorize about a possible IG hack, analyze a comment from Kirkconnell’s sister, and try to piece together the deeply confusing timeline. All of which takes us to Tuesday, when Kirkconnell sat down with Alex Cooper (aka the millennial Diane Sawyer) to share her side of the story...and it’s not great. A tearful Kirkconnell said she was blindsided — not just by the breakup, which happened mere hours before her flight home from their vacation, but also by the now-infamous IG post, which left her no chance to break the news to friends and family first. Oof.

Sure, there were some, in our humble opinion, questionable flags, like her claim that “it was like pulling teeth to try and get him to come to a wedding with me,” and when it came to their future: “the words were there, but the actions weren’t.” Kirkconnell even said they talked about “engagement, marriage, all the things” as recently as their trip. But by its end, James apparently told her, “I don’t know if I ever see myself proposing to you.” With so many questions still unanswered (yes, even after the 100-minute interview), the internet is blazing ahead with its investigation, scouring the couple’s (gazillion) posts and videos for missed signs that there was trouble in paradise. (It didn’t help that former Bachelorette Clare Crawley may have implied she asked producers not to cast James because she knew he wasn’t serious.) Whatever they do — or don’t — find, Kirkconnell told Cooper she didn’t think she and James could ever get back together, saying “the right decision is to just stand up for myself and be on my own.” Guess they won’t be defying Bachelor odds after all.