Abbie Chatfield apologises to Brooke Blurton in Bachelorette 'feud': 'I'm sorry'

Abbie Chatfield has apologised to Brooke Blurton after The Bachelorette star called out a “close friend” for “tainting” the finale week of her season of the show, in which she made history as the first Indigenous and openly pansexual lead.

Just hours before Brooke professed her love for Darvid on the final episode of this year's Bachelorette, Abbie announced that she was dating Brooke’s on-screen ex, Konrad Bien-Stephens.

In a post to Instagram, Brooke a shared a lengthy statement about “the crap” that emerged at the end of the reality TV show that she says affected her both personally and mentally.

Now, Abbie has responded, taking to her Instagram account to say she and Konrad "didn't consider the possible ramifications" of their actions when they decided to announce their relationship to the world.

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"A month ago, a video of Konrad and I kissing was secretly captured by a patron and made public," Abbie started her post.

"Following this, Brooke and I had a conversation in which I apologised and expressed regret multiple times for our public affection as this was prior to Konrad's exit from the show. Konrad had a similar conversation with Brooke.

"We met as a result of him coming along to a catch up with a mutual friend, the public setting was an accident. We absolutely should have waited to be in private as we are public figures and these are things we need to consider, but we didn't. We also didn't consider the possible ramifications of our actions."

Abbie went on to say that following their Byron Bay kiss being caught on camera, they kept their relationship quiet, "and did not leave the house together in an effort to not be photographed out of respect for the show and to minimise press surrounding the spoiler of Konrad's exit."

The former Bachelor star said when she uploaded photos of the couple together to her Instagram account - thus confirming their relationship - she didn't mean it "with malice".

"The morning of, I mistook a message from Brooke expressing her happiness for and approval of our relationship as a green light to upload a post. Following the post, Konrad received an equally supportive message," she continued.

"I see with hindsight that this assumption was naïve. I now understand the timing of publicly sharing our relationship should have been more considered and that is my fault acknowledge that impact outweighs intent.

"I didn't take into account the Australian media landscape and the inherent privilege that I hold as a white woman.

"My actions had the potential to undermine the importance that this pivotal season of The Bachelorette holds to the First Nations and LGBTQIA+ Communities. This is an extremely important conversation to be having."

Abbie said that in the future, this will be at the forefront of her mind and she will "continue to listen to and amplify minority communities, and endeavour to learn."

She finished her statement with: "I'm sorry."

Abbie's post comes after Brooke earlier thanked fans for their support in an Instagram Story, announcing that she and her new partner, Darvid Garayeli, have decided to go offline for the week to enjoy their “love bubble”.

“I'm still grieving the death of my sister and when I put it in perspective to how long it has been, it's been only two months,” she added.

“Not having Darv there in that time was probably one of the most challenging times for both of us. It doesn't make it easy when you physically can not be there for someone you love who's lost someone they love.

“So I've promised myself, Darv, my family and my angel sister that I'll take the time to heal. It will take more than a week but this is a start.”

Brooke continued: “I hate to bring it up, but personally and mentally I’ve been disrupted by all the crap that came with Finale Week. We both have.

“I'm not a hostile person and literally do not have any hate in my heart. Everyone who watched the show, or was on the show cast and/or working as crew, will know that I put my heart and soul into it and it meant a lot for me to open myself up so vulnerably like that.

“Not only that but for what it meant for the LGBTQIA+ and First Nations Community to have that display of representation.”

“Which moves onto my new point. The hardest point,” the youth worker wrote.

“For that to be tainted ONCE again by 1. To what I thought was a close friend. 2. Another white woman displaying what white privilege looks like 3. A very clear display of narcissism. Hurts me. Literally pains me.

“I've reached out to this person to resolve this 'conflict' which in fact, classic naive me, adult me went to this person to communicate openly about the layers of complexity that this person’s actions show and take away from NOT only me but what it meant for a queer woman of colour. If this wasn't me. I'd still have this stance.

“You guys asked for my comment. There it is. Now go give them more air time in which is what this is exactly about.”

Shortly after posting, Brooke appeared to confirm the public's speculation that she was talking about fellow Bachelor star Abbie Chatfield when she re-shared someone else's Instagram Story directly naming the It's A Lot podcast host.

The follow-up post from Nicole Knight read: "So many posts and questions everywhere about Brooke Blurton's comment about white privilege and how it upset her about Abbie Chatfield hard launching her relationship with The Bachelorette finalist Konrad, this is the best explanation I've found so far."

The re-shared Story also included a screenshot of a fan's Instagram comment claiming "Abbie knows her white privilege would have made her the centre of attention and taken that away from the Blak community as a whole because Abbie knows the media favourites white influencers over Blak influencer".

Brooke’s scathing statement comes shortly after fellow Bachelor star Abbie announced that she was dating Brooke’s on-screen ex, Konrad Bien-Stephens.

Konrad made it all the way to the top four on Brooke’s season of The Bachelorette, while Abbie appeared in the season’s final episode as one of her friends meeting the top two contestants.

The couple chose to ‘hard launch’ their relationship the day before Brooke’s history-making finale, which was met with criticism from several fans and former stars of the franchise, including Angie Kent.

"Announcing your spicy hot relationship THE DAY of your mate Brooke’s finale episodes was just a little bit can we say opportunistic?” the former Bachelorette wrote in her recap for Yahoo Lifestyle.

“I love me some Abbie, don’t get this twisted, but she’s a very clever clog when it comes to dropping it like it's hot and creating an absolute media circus of sorts. Sister has stated many a time that there is one thing she does not like to discuss and that is who she is dating.

“But on the day of her friend's finale episode(s) she HARD launches the s**t of her brand-spankin' new relationship with someone from Brooke’s season. Of course, we are going to eat this right up, it’s yummy. Power move vibes right there. I love a power move. But it wasn’t the day for it hey?”

Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle alongside Darvid the day after her finale, Brooke broke her silence on Abbie and Konrad’s romance and revealed that she had spoken with both of them recently.

“Abbie is my friend,” Brooke said. “Obviously she came on the show last night and that was four months ago. But I guess seeing them together, it makes sense as well.

“Like, they are actually really similar - two Geminis, we love to see it. So I feel excited that that’s come out of the show. I feel very happy for both of them.

“I’m friends with her, we’re civil, we’re mutual. It’s all good, it’s all gravy.”

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