'The Bachelor': Clayton Reveals the 'Tremendous' Realization He Had After Sending Serene Home (Exclusive)

etonline.com:

Clayton Echard had a major realization when he sent Serene home. On Monday night's episode of , Clayton said goodbye to Serene after she told him «I love you» during her hometown date.Before getting in the car and leaving Bachelor Mansion, Serene asked Clayton if he was ending things because he couldn't reciprocate her confession of love.

When ET spoke with Clayton, he revealed why that question from Serene changed how he approached the rest of his journey on .«When she left and she said, 'Hey, listen, I told you how I was feeling, expressed those feelings of love, was that what sent me home?' That is when I realized that, because you're withholding this information, these feelings, these women are going to now start to question if what you have is genuine,» Clayton said. «That really did not sit right with me.»«Serene opened up my eyes tremendously, where I realized that I was making a mistake of harboring my emotions,» he added. «I was withholding them because I was afraid that once I opened up in one area, I would open up in another, and that would lead me to going down that path of falling in love with multiple women.

That was scary to me.»As fans of the franchise know, Clayton's fear did come true. In previews for the remainder of the season, Clayton confesses that he loves each of his final three women, Susie, Gabby and Rachel.«I really was trying to stop myself from getting there because I didn't feel that it was the right thing to do,» Clayton said. «I thought, 'There's no way you should be falling in love with multiple women.