Michelle Young doesn’t have any thoughts on ex Matt James’ split from Rachael Kirkconnell.
“I think my take was, honestly, that I didn’t have a take,” Young, 31, said on the Tuesday, February 11, episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast. “With social media, everyone assumes that it’s so black-and-white and, you know, given certain platforms or opportunities to speak on things, you hear one side of the story, not the other side of the story. But you can agree with certain things, you can disagree with certain things. But for me personally, I can’t sit and think about, ‘OK, well, who’s corner am I in?’ Because through that situation, like, I’m in my corner.”
Bachelor Nation met Young when she vied for the affections of James, 33, on season 25 of The Bachelor, which aired in 2021. Young ultimately ended the season as James’ runner-up, with the lead picking Kirkconnell, 28, in the finale. At the After the Final Rose episode, James shared that he and Kirkconnell split after her past racially insensitive social media posts resurfaced. The twosome ultimately reconciled before splitting for good in January.
Young, for her part, went on to be the lead of The Bachelorette season 18, where she accepted a proposal from Nayte Olukoya in the 2021 finale. The pair confirmed their split in 2022. Young has since moved on with Jack Leius, with whom she got engaged to in October 2024.
While looking back at James’ season, Young explained that she thinks about the “whole massive controversy” that she went through.
Rachael Kirkconnell met Matt James during season 25 of The Bachelor and in the aftermath of the show, their relationship was full of ups and downs. While the 2021 season of the ABC series was airing, the Georgia native came under fire for resurfaced photos in an antebellum-style dress at a fraternity getaway. Before Kirkconnell […]
“I had to speak about race and I had to be the teacher and speak up about, you know, women of color and how we should be treated within reality television and explain things to people,” Young said. “And I went through this whole, like, racial trauma experience when I sat there, and so I had such a whole different experience that I kind of am in my corner and I don’t think about it. Like, I just choose to be at peace with it and not spend so much energy, you know, whose side or who’s right or who’s wrong, because I think both parties can make mistakes and relationships.”
Michelle Young and Matt James on ‘The Bachelor’ ABC/YouTube
She continued, “But also it’s like, I spend a lot of time focusing on these two people at the end of that season, sitting next to Emmanuel Acho and had to have the whole conversation be about race, and so it’s like I really just am in nobody’s corner and am that peace with it and really don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.” (Acho, 34, was named as the fill-in host amid controversy surrounding host Chris Harrison, who left the show in 2021. Jesse Palmer has since been named the host of the ABC dating show.)
Less than two weeks after her split from Matt James rocked Bachelor Nation, Rachael Kirkconnell is ready to tell her side of the story, revealing that the breakup came “out of nowhere” during a fight. “It’s different every day. I’m doing OK,” Kirkconnell, 28, began to “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper on Tuesday, January […]
Young said she has tried to stay off of social media because “every other scroll” has been about James and Kirkconnell’s relationship. “I’m like, yeah, you know, maybe it’s not something that I want to, like, focus and spend energy on,” she said.
When cohost Ashley Iaconnetti asked whether Young had spoken with James or Kirkconnell after her time on The Bachelor, the former Bachelorette replied, “No.”
“I think we briefly all ran into each other with things and everything is cordial,” Young said. “Everything was put down. But it’s just not something that I necessarily like to sit and spend energy on.”
