Danielle Maltby and Michael Allio have called it quits. Earlier this week, Michael announced his split from the woman he met and fell in love with on season 8 of Bachelor in Paradise. Days later, Danielle spoke out about the breakup, claiming on her podcast, The WoMed, that her former beau ended things with her one day after she went through an egg retrieval procedure.
This all happened just over two months ago, when she and Michael traveled to New York for her egg retrieval.
“The retrieval and everything was so easy. Michael came with me. He gave me my retrieval shot. We were just having so much fun. Everything was so sweet,” she said, before noting that, when she woke up from the procedure, she learned that “everything went great.”
“Michael was waiting there with a matcha latte for me,” she recalled. “… What’s hard in talking about this really isn’t the procedure itself, it’s what came after. I just need to get it out there, so that people can stop asking questions and I can just move forward. But the day after Michael and I got home from freezing my eggs he broke up with me.”
Danielle said she was “very, very blindsided” by the breakup, and noted that she is “still very emotional and hurt and confused.” Earlier this year, Danielle made the move from Nashville, Tennessee, to Cleveland, Ohio, where Michael lives with his young son, James.
“I still don’t really have any answers,” Danielle said. “I’m grieving the loss of him. I’m grieving the loss of the future that I really believed in and I’m grieving the loss of James. I’m grieving the loss of safety that I felt with him for the first time. He was the first person that ever made me feel safe in a relationship, that made me feel like I was enough, and then that was taken away.”
Danielle said that her egg retrieval weekend is “really hard” to think back on in retrospect, “because it was a really beautiful trip.”
“I was so proud of myself. Michael took great care of me. It was a very, very love-filled weekend,” she said. “… It was really difficult to come down off of this experience that I was so excited for and then to have to come down off of the hormones while being in complete shock, like, complete physical shock. I was just completely blindsided.”
Michael said on his Instagram Story that he “wanted to support” Danielle during her egg retrieval trip, but claimed that he had told her beforehand that he didn’t foresee more kids in his future.
Danielle’s breakup story differs from Michael’s, telling the Trading Secrets podcast that he blamed the “incredibly fresh split” on a lack of compatibility.
“We’re not together anymore. It’s not what we planned. We both threw a lot into this relationship, and it’s really awful when it doesn’t work out,” he said. “… When you realize that love is there, but you’re not necessarily compatible, you mourn the loss, not of just that person and that friend in your life, but also the future that you had envisioned.”
Michael added that “it’s to no fault” of Danielle’s that they didn’t work, admitting that “she poured everything into this” and saying that he has “so much admiration” for his ex.
“We’re still working through some things and trying to stay close,” he said. “… The last couple months have been really tough.”
As for where he goes from here, Michael, who previously lost James’ mom to cancer, admitted that “starting over again, it is always frightening.”
“I know that time will heal because I’ve felt that before,” he said, “but it doesn’t make it any less difficult.”
In response to Michael’s podcast interview, Danielle took to her Instagram Story to refute his version of events, and to note that she was “shocked to find out my breakup would be announced” on a podcast. Michael admitted on his Instagram Story that she didn’t know he was going to speak out, but said that he waited to do so until she began taking photos of them down on Instagram.
“This breakup was not a mutual decision arriving at some perception of incompatibilities,” she wrote. “However, I do hope the best for Michael and I will always have James in my heart as we move forward separately.”
She went on to address the fan love for her relationship, noting, “I know so many people were rooting for Michael and I, and I appreciate your support so much.”
“I don’t regret the love I gave for a second,” she wrote. “While these last couple months have been extremely difficult and painful for me, I am succeeding in finding moments of joy in building a new life in this city, regardless of how I came to it. I have been extremely invested in my job, which I love and I feel hopeful again to discover what the future holds for me.”
Additionally, on her podcast episode, Danielle revealed that she was able to freeze eight of her eggs, something she’s “just incredibly, incredibly grateful for, as I am now alone.”
“At least of got eight little healthy eggs on ice,” she said. “That takes a lot of pressure off, because the future is extremely uncertain right now.”
Uncertain as it may be, Danielle said she’s “definitely starting to find myself again.”
“It’s day by day, right? I was not expecting to still be so emotional even talking about this and how I’m doing right now. My therapist has been putting in work, but I honestly am doing so much better,” she said. “I’ve shown myself a lot of strength and a lot of grace and just how resilient I am.”
“I’ve just been taking a lot of time with my feelings and processing them and figuring out my life,” Danielle added. “You think it’s going to go one way and then you just never know what’s going to happen. Starting fresh again has been very difficult, very painful, to say the least, but I am doing it. Every day does get a little bit better, so I’m very grateful for that.”
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