The Netflix star also explains his decision to wait to introduce his son, Hayden, to the world.
Bartise Bowden never wants fans to think he was hiding his son, Hayden, from the world. The Love Is Blind season 3 star who went on to appear on Perfect Match, took to Instagram in April to post a pic of his baby boy, shocking fans with the reveal.
But in a new episode of his Talk'R podcast, Bartise explained the timing of his announcement and why he chose to keep his son and his "baby mama" out of the limelight initially.
"I wish the public had a little bit more of an appreciation for people's private life," Bartise admitted. "There's a difference between privacy and secrecy. And I wanted to keep my private life as private as I need it to be or I needed it to be for my son and for my baby mama and for everybody involved in my whole circle."
He shared that he chose to announce his son's birth at a time that felt "safest" for everyone involved.
Noting that after filming both TV productions months in advance, viewers were confused by his baby news.
"The timeline of all that, how it plays out on camera, doesn't make sense. What actually happened was, I filmed Love Is Blind. I actually had a whole relationship between filming Love Is Blind and Perfect Match," he shared. "Filmed Perfect Match, came back, conceived a son. Perfect Match had not been out yet, had not aired, so I knew if I were to make the announcement that I had a son before Perfect Match aired, it's gonna make no sense to anybody."
Noting that neither his son nor his son's mother have asked for life in the public eye, he opted to respect their privacy. As for his relationship with the unnamed woman with whom he shares a child with, Bartise said they are "not dating."
"I want to share [my son's] life because I'm so proud of him, and I'm so proud of his mother. I'm so proud of the relationship that we all have, the three of us together, even though we're not dating," Bartise explained. "We're friends. I say this all the time, 'We're single parenting and co-parenting all the time.' I'll hang out with my son alone. I hang out with his mom alone. We'll hang out the three of us together. I'll hang out with her family. We're very involved together and separately, which is beautiful and I wouldn't want it any other way given our circumstances."
Calling fatherhood "incredible," Bartise admitted to struggling with how much to share about his son.
"I love to display him but at the same time I don't want it to come across that I'm using him," he said.
Bartise met and got engaged to Nancy Rodriguez on season 3 of Love Is Blind. Ultimately, he said no at the altar, ending their romance.
He then competed on the first season of Perfect Match. Bartise and his son also made a video cameo during the Love Is Blind season 4 reunion, asking the cast when they were planning to have children — a move co-host Vanessa Lachey was criticized for at the time.
On Tuesday, Bartise also revealed that he is currently in a relationship, posting a Boomerang with his girlfriend without naming her.
When a fan asked if he was "looking to settle down," Bartise replied, "Even though we lose balance sometimes, I'm very settled down with my gf."
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