Matt James Reveals the 'Fated' Way He and Rachael Kirkconnell Reconnected After Her Plantation Party Pic

etonline.com:

Matt James is opening up about how he and Rachael Kirkconnell reconciled. On Wednesday,  published an excerpt of the former Bachelor's upcoming book, , in which he details how he and his girlfriend found their way back to each other after several controversies.In January 2021, before James' season of began airing, a TikTok user accused Kirkconnell of previously bullying her for dating Black men.

Then, another user accused her of liking racist photos. Pics also surfaced of her at an Old South plantation-themed party while in college.

Rachael has since apologized and asked people to stop defending her actions. In the excerpt from his book, James explains that he made a concerted effort to «ignore social media chatter» while the public watched his journey unfold, and writes that that decision «took weeks» for him to be made aware of the online chatter about his girlfriend.

When the first few things about Kirkconnell popped up online, James writes that he «shrugged it off and told her not to worry about it.» That all changed when the photo surfaced, though.«She called me immediately.