The man who led The Bachelor in Season 26 is now facing a major legal battle from a woman who says she hooked up with him back in May! And the reality TV hunk does NOT come out of this looking good in the slightest.
Clayton Echard‘s time on the show came right down to the wire with contestants Rachel Recchia and Susie Evans. And while he ultimately picked and pursued Susie for a while after the show ended — and even sparked dating rumors with Rachel at the beginning of this year — he clearly used the show’s cache to hook up with a lot more than just them. And now he’s got WAY bigger problems than rose ceremonies.
According to reports from both The Sun and Page Six, Echard is embroiled in a salacious paternity suit involving an unidentified woman in Arizona! In court docs first obtained by The Sun this week, the 30-year-old Echard is accused of having a one-night stand back on May 20 with an unnamed woman that outlet identifies as a “33-year-old podcast host from Scottsdale.” Hmmm… Anyone we know?!
But hooking up isn’t the crazy part. Nor even is her claim he only made clear it was a one night stand the next morning. The wildest part is that the woman allegedly got pregnant from the one-night stand. And now, per the docs, she has TWINS due in February of next year — twins who Clayton swears are not his!!!
Paternity probz!!
Per The Sun, the woman is demanding Echard take a paternity test to confirm whether he is, in fact, the father to her coming twins. Her lawsuit was first filed way back on August 1, even though it’s just now been discovered. So she figured out pretty quickly after their alleged hookup that it led to a couple buns in the oven. Which is what tends to happen! LOLz!
In the woman’s filing, she claimed there was no doubt Echard is the father because she “hadn’t been with anyone since March of 2022.” Furthermore, the Bachelor alum supposedly broke things off from the woman the MORNING AFTER they hooked up on that fateful May day. Ouch!!
But when her positive pregnancy test came back weeks later, she hit him up with the results. At that point, per the court filing, Echard began denying he could be the dad and said the pair “only had oral sex” on their hookup night. The woman claims in the docs that she “offered more than 50 times in writing” for Echard to take a paternity test and settle the matter without question. He apparently denied, and denied, and denied, though.
Per Page Six, the former reality TV star sent the woman a series of cruel and nasty text messages at various points while the two were going back-and-forth over the pregnancy push. Some of Echard’s texts were jaw-dropping in how mean they were, like these (below) that were included as screenshots in the woman’s court filing:
“I don’t believe you for a second”
“I legitimately hate you right now”
“You have lost your mind and I hope YOU think about how terrible this is that you would subject me to this”
“My personal hell would be having to have you be a part of my life”
Holy s**t! What a jerk!
The whole thing came to a head on August 23 when the woman scheduled a paternity test — and paid a $725 deposit for it! But on the day of the appointment, Echard allegedly backed out. In the paternity filing, she slams the Bachelor vet for his “unwillingness to participate” in the procedure after that last-minute cancellation.
As for Echard, he’s already responded both in court and publicly!! Late last month, in his own court filing, the ex-TV star claimed her accusations were “groundless and lacking in merit” because they “never had sexual intercourse.” Then, in a statement to The Sun when asked for comment about the matter this week, Echard doubled down on his claim they didn’t do the deed:
“My response is in the court documents. I’m not giving it the time of day because it’s baseless. We did not have sexual intercourse.”
So one of them is telling the truth here and the other one isn’t… right?! Either he is the father or he’s not, and the answer will come out soon enough. The question is, if he’s so sure… why not take the test to prove it?
The answer may come really soon. As of now, per E! News, the paternity test is scheduled for September 26, which is next Tuesday. Echard and the accusing woman will then both be back in court two days later for an “early resolution conference,” per multiple reports.
Y’all can say what you want about the current state of the Bachelor franchise, but this is juicy as f**k! If only this was the show… Reactions??
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