Andy DehnartReports that Brad Womack and Emily Maynard have broken up have persisted since their season of The Bachelor ended, and they revealed that they’d nearly broke up. Now, a new report says they broke up earlier this month, but ABC is contractually forcing Emily to not discuss that, thus keeping intact the illusion of love that The Bachelor has so successfully maintained over its 15 seasons.
OK! Magazine reported that Emily “gave back the 3-carat Neil Lane engagement ring Brad proposed with on the finale,” and Life & Style reports that Emily split with Brad because of his “hurtful and erratic behavior,” but Emily’s “contract with ABC prevents her from speaking out about the relationship without the network’s permission — and Life & Style has learned ABC called her on April 13 specifically to remind her of that point.” The magazine said “a source says they have encouraged Emily to try to work things out with Brad, because they want Bachelor couples to make it down the aisle.”
Deanna Pappas confirmed that the network likes to meddle in failing relationships, at least before letting Chris Harrison belittle and blame the woman for a relationship’s dissolution. “In the end, they try to control it,” Deanna said.
Brad is no longer on Twitter, and Emily hasn’t mentioned him in a while, and not really since the end of March, when she praised him for something he did for her daughter. And early last week, she wrote that she’s “definitely getting thick skin to say the least” as a result of tabloid reports.