She continued, "I will always acknowledge and appreciate the adventures, support, and growth both Nayte and this experience have brought me. At the same time, I'm deeply hurting and will need time and space to work through this heartbreak."

Nayte also shared a statement about their breakup. "When we both started this journey, we were looking for our Soulmates. Our forever. Our best friends," he wrote. "However, as we grow and learn, we also realize that sometimes somebody that you hold dear to your heart isn't somebody that you're meant to spend the rest of your life with."

"Hearts are heavy, emotions are high, and we are dealing with this the best way we can... We genuinely fell in love, and we genuinely became each other's best friends. Michelle and I will always cheer each other on, but moving forward, we will be cheering from a distance."

Neither one of them has said much else about the breakup and they still have photos of each other on their Instagram pages. Recently, the Bachelorette star has thanked fans for their support and shared that she went on a last-minute trip to Iceland with her girlfriends.

Her relationship with Nayte isn’t the only thing she’s taking a break from. Prior to their split, Michelle appeared on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast and emotionally revealed that she would be stepping away from teaching.

“Nayte and Michelle’s breakup confirmation via their instagram stories #TheBachelorette”

Michelle was an elementary school teacher and even had students from her class on the show. "I was sitting down with my coworker and we were just kinda talking about this school year and how long we've been in survival mode, and my coworker kinda just asked me, 'Well Michelle how long have you been in survival mode?'" she said. And as she asked that, it kinda caught me off guard to actually stop and think how long I have been [in] this position, and my response was two years."

She went on to explain why she’s been in survival mode, citing the pandemic, the broken education system, and being a reality star. "I really feel that, you know, as I move into this next year, I have decided to step out of the classroom," she said. "Bear with me here. This [is] going to be emotional so I have decided to step out of the classroom."

"This doesn't mean I'm never going to step back in the classroom," she added. "This doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not going to continue working towards a Masters in Administration and potentially get back into that direct line of education."

"But it's me stepping away for a year to truly capitalize and push forward and put all my energy and efforts into my passion in a different way and really truly try to push for that change because staying in the classroom and seeing and feeling that weight just shows me that something has to be done."

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