Things may not have worked out with her Bachelorette winner, but Kaitlyn Bristowe still found lasting love with a member of Bachelor Nation! The brunette beauty started dating Jason Tartick in January 2019, and they’re still very much together today! The couple are even planning a wedding, as the pair got engaged in May 2021.
Kaitlyn, 34, seemed to have found The One when she accepted a proposal from Shawn Booth on season 11 of The Bachelorette in 2015. While she was head-over-heels for the hunk, he still seemed to be dragging his feet on an actual marriage three years later, and they broke up in November 2018. “When I was with Shawn, I knew what I wanted and I knew what I deserved. I also knew I was happy on my own. I think that’s what made the transition out of the relationship into doing my own thing a little easier — I felt empowered,” Kaitlyn told Cosmo in May 2019, adding she was ” nervous to date again only because people follow me, and I didn’t know when it was too soon to share something.”
Naturally, she did receive some backlash when she went public with Jason, 31, two months later in January 2019 — mainly from her ex, Shawn. “I think just with her moving on so quick, I just have a tough time understanding why she would be putting this out everywhere or blasting it all over the place knowing that it could hurt,” the 33-year-old said on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti‘s “Almost Famous” podcast at the time, also claiming Kaitlyn started dating Jason almost immediately after they called off their engagement. “I’m going through the mourning process now, whereas she could have been earlier,” he said on a later podcast.
Not long after, the new couple went on the Today show and put rumors to rest, insisting they only started dating about a month after the split, and that the relationship happened organically over time. After meeting on her “Off the Vine” podcast, “We were friends. A little banter here and there and friendship turned into a relationship,” said Jason.
The relationship only grew stronger after weathering adversity together. In May 2019, Kaitlyn revealed plans to move to Nashville with the former corporate banker. Just one month later, they adopted their dog Ramen Noodle, and talked about plans to get engaged within the year. “I think I can speak for Kaitlyn, I think Kaitlyn has an expectation [of an engagement] within a year,” Jason told E! News in July 2019. “I don’t have an expectation. I don’t expect anything. I just think on the path that we’re on, it would make sense that this is the next step,” Kaitlyn said.
