The 29-year-old graphic designer tells ET he was in love with Becca -- which made his departure even harder.
Bachelorette fans were heartbroken when Becca Kufrin shockingly sent Wills Reid home on Monday night's episode -- and so was Wills.
ET's Lauren Zima sat down with the fan favorite for Roses and Rose Live on Tuesday, where he opened up about his dramatic exit from the show, and revealed that he really was in love with Becca.
"Yes [I was in love with her]," Wills said. "I told her that in Richmond, that I was falling in love with her... I don't say things unless I mean it."
"There was a couple moments that weren't aired, but we had a couple familiar similarities, and epiphany moments, especially one in Vegas, and from that moment on, I just knew, like, I was falling hard for this girl," he added.
Those feelings made it even tougher when Becca decided to send Wills home on the group date in the Bahamas, choosing Jason as the fourth man moving forward to hometowns.
"This is no detriment to Jason -- Jason has been [my] closest friend in the house -- I just personally felt like my connection with her was very, very strong, and every conversation we had the whole day was very, very powerful," Wills explained. "We talked about family, our familial similarities and everything, and I just felt like she was ready to come home, and she wasn't. I just had to deal with that in a very abrupt time and it was difficult."
"[It was] devastating. It kind of felt like a huge, like, rock that fell into your gut, and you're just... all those doubts in your mind that you tried to push back, they all come back, like, very quickly," he continued. "It's a lot of pain and you just have to deal with it the best way you can."
For Wills, the best way to deal with his and Becca's sudden breakup was to cry it out. "When she sent me home, my wall immediately came back and my exit interview, I was just very, very upset, trying to process everything," he recalled.
That's when he told producers to stop the car. He ran out and let the waterworks flow. "I wanted to just get out of the car and kind of let everything out. It's been a long journey, a lot of emotions, a lot of intensity, a lot of effort, and it kind of came to an end abruptly and I needed to let it out."
Wills, who will appear on Bachelor in Paradise, said watching the episode back "brings back bad memories" -- but he has no regrets. "I'm glad I went through it. Like I told her... Everything I go through is going to lead me to [my future wife]. So this is just another chapter in meeting her."
"I told [Becca] that night, 'As long as you're happy, I'm happy. I don't really need any more answers. She kind of showed me how she felt, and that's fine," he said, before alluding to Becca's engagement to one of the remaining men. "As long as she's happy with one of my best friends, whoever that might be, then I'm happy."
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. See what Becca told ET about the moment she's not looking forward to watching on TV in the video below.
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