'The Bachelorette' Alum Justin Glaze Addresses Speculation About Split With Susie Evans

Susie Evans and Justin Glaze set off breakup rumors earlier this summer when they suddenly went silent about their relationship on social media. Adding fuel to the fire, Glaze skipped posting a birthday tribute for Evans earlier this month.

Bachelor Nation first got to know Justin Glaze when he competed for Katie Thurston’s heart on "The Bachelorette" Season 17 in 2021, finishing as the runner-up. Meanwhile, Susie Evans debuted on Clayton Echard’s Season 16 of "The Bachelor" in 2022.

Glaze and Evans started a friendship after they both appeared in "The Bachelor" franchise, which quickly had fans speculating about a deeper connection. Justin Glaze and Susie Evans sparked a romantic connection in October 2023 and went public with their relationship in January.

On Wednesday, Justin Glaze appeared on the “Almost Famous” podcast, where he finally addressed the rumors that his romance with Susie Evans is over.

“Susie and I, we’re not together,” the 30-year-old said, per Us Weekly. “We are doing our best to — kind of, like I said —- protect each other, keep things private as we try to navigate what this looks like for us.”

While it has “not been easy” for him, Glaze said, “We still have a ton of love for each other. We’re on great terms. We still talk and are in communication."

"Like I said, [we are] still prioritizing each other, ourselves, our relationship," the reality television star added.

After Justin Glaze and Susie Evans went their separate ways, they had a one-on-one conversation about how to inform their fans since their relationship was in the public eye.

“We are always on the same page about our relationship," he said on the podcast Wednesday. "When this first happened, we decided, ‘Hey, we’re not going to make some joint post. We’re going to figure this out together, we’re going to keep it private. I’m sure people will catch on eventually and then when we’re ready to talk about it, that’s what we’ll do.'"

"We were on the same page about when we would want to talk about it and how we want to go about navigating all of this," Glaze added.

After fans noticed their playfulness on social media, they shipped the couple, but Evans and Glaze said their relationship was purely platonic--until October 2023, when Evans told Glaze to stop “messing around” regarding their flirty banter.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this tone seems a little bit different,” Glaze told E! News at the time. “In the back of my head, I was like, ‘If you’re serious, I’m serious.’ That was kind of my mindset. I had always been testing the lines, and I wasn’t sure if she would go for it. So, I didn’t want to cross those boundaries.”

But then they ended up having a conversation, and Glaze went for it.

“I was like, ‘Hey listen, I don’t know where you stand on our friendship or relationship. Obviously, I respect you so much, and I appreciate our friendship," he told the outlet. "But I’d be lying if I [said I] haven’t thought about if there is potential for more than a friendship just given the natural chemistry that we had as friends."

The two then shared a kiss that night.

So how did the couple meet?

“We’re hard-launching a collaboration,” she told Us Weekly in December 2022. “I was there to help him film an ad, which had nothing to do with my blog. … His videographer wasn’t available and I live three hours from him and he was like, ‘Hey, is there any chance you’d be available on this date to do a videography thing?’ And I was like, ‘Can we exchange yes for a blog collaboration?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ We actually had so much fun.”

Before the two began a romantic relationship, Evans said that in order to start dating again, she "would really have to be interested in the person and I would wanna get to know them before ever, like, going out with them publicly."

"I would really wanna vet that call,” she told Us. “So I would just really have to make sure that I actually, really, really like that person before I even give a first date a chance just because I think it gets complicated when people wanna talk about it.”