Clayton Echard doubled down on his claims that he did not know the extent of Shanae Ankney’s bullying toward Elizabeth Corrigan.
The Bachelor addressed Lyndsey Windham’s viral TikTok that said he had lied about how much he knew.
Clayton Echard denied Lyndsey Windham’s claims that he knew about Shanae Ankney’s mental health comments
Clayton sat down with Nick Viall on The Viall Files Podcast to chat about his regrets going on the show and the level of backlash and drama he’d faced.
He also reiterated that he had not known Shanae was making fun of Elizabeth’s ADHD, a direct contradiction to Lyndsey’s TikTok stating that she had told him about it.
“I don’t wanna make accusations per se,” Clayton said about the TikTok, “I think that again, if she feels that she said it, I don’t know, maybe that’s the way she recalls it.”
Clayton said he did not want to say for certain that Lyndsey hadn’t told him, but said that the way he understood the situation was that both Elizabeth and Shanae’s mental health was struggling because of their feud.
“I did not know about her [Elizabeth] having ADHD or being attacked and mocked for that,” Clayton said. “I had to kinda go off of what I knew and what was being told to me, which truthfully wasn’t as much as what obviously people are seeing now.”
Clayton Echard focused on forming strong connections instead of the drama
The Bachelor also revealed that there may have been times he overlooked the drama as he was focused on doing the right things for himself.
“Maybe I didn’t give it the attention that it deserved because I was so focused on finding what was best for me,” Clayton said.
Although the Shanae drama dominated the show for several weeks, until her elimination on Monday, Clayton said he was concentrating on building his relationships and keeping a positive frame of mind.
He said he felt some fans were probably even shocked at the strength of some of his connections as they were developed during the Shanae storyline.
Viewers may get the chance to see more of those special moments now that Shanae has been sent home.
Clayton has previously spoken out about feeling blindsided by what he was told on the show and what played out onscreen. He has also committed to holding himself accountable for the incident on the Women Tell All Special.
Watch the full interview below.
The Bachelor airs on Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.