Well, Here’s Why Nate Kept Posting About Gabby On TikTok
“It wasn’t trying to win her back.”
Everyone handles breakups differently. Some people eat ice cream and watch rom-coms, while others, like The Bachelorette’s Nate Mitchell, vent about their broken hearts on TikTok. Mitchell’s tearful breakup with Gabby Windey aired on ABC on Aug. 15, and a week later, he let it all out on the For You Page. And on Sept. 8, Mitchell explained why he took his feelings to TikTok — plus, how he feels about Windey now.
In recent seasons, contestants from The Bachelor and Bachelorette haven’t shied away from using TikTok to tell their side of the story (just ask Clayton Echard and Susie Evans). It didn’t take long for Mitchell to start following suit. In his first video, posted on Aug. 23, the fan-favorite let his followers know he couldn’t stop thinking about Windey. Later on the same day, he posted another TikTok, where he joked about watching her move on so quickly. Ouch.
So, um, why was he opening up to the wide world of TikTok? “I like to express myself. When I got broken up with and I came back, I couldn’t do anything. So I had bottled up these emotions and couldn’t say anything because I was still actively in it,” Mitchell told the Talking It Out With Bachelor Nation podcast, per Cosmopolitan. “When I got dumped on the show, I could finally express what I felt at that time. A lot of that was something I wanted to get out there so I could move on from that. It wasn’t trying to win her back, it was just how I felt at that time when I was hurting.” So I guess TikToking is his version of journaling?
In the podcast, Mitchell also opened up about how he’s moving on after their emotional goodbye. "I was able to process a lot of what happened since we broke up. I didn’t get to say a lot of what I wanted to say in Amsterdam, but looking back I just wanted her to know that I had no hard feelings towards her,” he said. “I view her as a very astute individual who’s in tune with her emotions. She made the right choice for her, I’m always going to be in her corner.”
It seems like Windey isn’t holding any grudges, either. Despite rumors that Mitchell two-timed his past partners, Windey’s still feeling loyal. “I’ll always have his back 100%. He was nothing but good to me,” Windey told Extra on Aug. 24. “When we met, he really was a role model for a lot of the guys and stood up for me and stood up for what he believed in, so I have a hard time knowing that person, thinking anything else about him, no matter what comes out online.” Aw!
These exes might not resent each other, but it still sounds like that door is closed. “For now, I’m not trying to get back together with Gabby,” Mitchell said. “You don’t want to close a door for no reason and you never know what the future holds, but for right now, I am assuming she’s with the person she wants to be with. I am not trying to wreck a happy home for my own good, so if she’s happy, I’m happy."
Who knows, maybe the next step in Mitchell’s post-breakup journey will be becoming the Bachelor. I’ll save a rose for him, just in case.
