In an upcoming episode of 'Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation,' Bass spoke about what went wrong in his marriage.
Bachelorette alum, Evan Bass, is opening up about what went wrong in his marriage to Carly Waddell. In a new episode of the Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation, out Thursday, Bass, for the first time since their divorce, shared what led to their split.
"That six weeks I was on the beach changed my life, and it created this amazing bubble where I was able to connect with Carly, and I think it's beautiful what that can do," Bass told Bachelor Nation alums, Mike Johnson and Dr. Bryan Abasolo of his time on Bachelor in Paradise, where he met his now ex-wife. "I think that when we got out of it, we weren't able to set a proper foundation. Paradise, gives you a kind of foundation that's very -- there's nothing going on, right? You just have to work on your relationship."
While the pair established a sort of foundation while on BIP, Bass said the cracks in their relationship began to show once they left the show.
He continued, "And you talk about real-life stuff and for me, it was very genuine, and I think when you get out, that transition, that's probably where we missed it. Like communicating about values and just communication in general. Figuring out how to work through life. I have obviously other children that aren't with Carly, and so, there was just a lot to work through."
Ultimately though, Bass, who shares 4-year-old daughter Bella and 3-year-old son Charlie with Waddell, as well as three older sons from a previous marriage, said that he and the Bachelor alum didn't set the right foundation for their marriage to survive on the outside.
"I just don't think we set the foundation in the way that we should have," Bass maintained.
The couple called it quits in Dec. 2020, after marrying in 2017 after meeting on the reality TV dating series.
"We have made the difficult decision to separate," they said in a joint statement to People at the time. "We will always cherish our time together and continue to have the utmost respect for one another as we focus on what's best for the future of our family. We greatly appreciate everyone's love and support and kindly ask that you please respect our family’s privacy as we navigate through this."
While Bass' admission marks the first time he's spoken publicly about what led to their split, Waddell addressed it in Jan. 2021, in a video on her YouTube channel.
"We separated the day after Thanksgiving. We've been going to therapy for years," she shared. "... We tried. We tried, y'all, for a really long time to make it work. We went to therapy."
"We focused a lot more on the kids than we focused on ourselves. And, ultimately, I think that was probably our biggest downfall was that the kids kinda came at the top of the pyramid and we never put ourselves at the top," Waddell continued. "If you don't have a foundation for yourself, then you crumble. The last two years have just been really hard. We've been trying to figure it out and trying, trying, trying."
Waddell went on to claim that it was Bass who decided to end their relationship.
"I always told him that if he wanted out then it was his call, because I am just a person who would never be out," she said. "What are you going to do? [If] somebody doesn't want to be with you, they don't want to be with you."
The split came after Waddell said the pair spent 2020 house hunting, unsuccessfully.
"We actually put three offers on houses in 2020 and every single offer fell through, which was really sad... The last one fell through [because] there was this horrible foundation problem in the basement... That was in, like, October," she recalled. "And then I found this house and Evan told me to buy it, so I did. And then he told me he didn't want to live in it. So here we are. It's a new year."
In addition to discussing her breakup, the video featured Waddell giving a tour of the upstairs of her new home, including one room that she now calls "the divorce room."
"We're in the divorce room and I'm trying to make new memories here because it's 2021," she said, before beginning to sage the room. "... I call this the divorce room because this is where Evan told me he wanted a divorce. He was sitting right where I'm sitting. I'm going to sage this room, so every time I walk in I don't feel that energy."
Despite previously revealing that she's "very sad" and "not OK," Waddell said she was determined to remain positive.
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