As the fallout from ABC’s surprising “Bachelor” finale continues, Access Hollywood has uncovered personal e-mails between Jason Mesnick and Melissa Rycroft, Mesnick’s reality show fiancee who he dumped on national TV.
In the first of several e-mails, Rycroft expressed her frustration to Mesnick following the taping of the “After the Rose” special (taped in mid January), which saw Mesnick break off his engagement with Rycroft and opt for a second chance at love with the previously dumped Molly Malaney.
And while Mesnick’s change of heart might have been a shock to viewers, it appears Rycroft may have seen it coming.
“Last night didn’t go NEAR how I thought… I still can’t believe how you can’t give reasons other than ‘It changed.’… You know as well as I do that you didn’t give 100 percent to me or the relationship. And I don’t understand how you can walk away form something without giving it your all,” she wrote in the e-mail dated Jan. 19. “But I am walking away knowing I did.”
In her initial e-mail after the taping, it seems Rycroft already also had a good idea about Mesnick’s feelings for Malaney prior to Mesnick’s TV confession.
“And getting confirmation about Molly in front of people like that was a complete classless move if you ask me — how could you do that to me after I repeatedly asked you about it? I’m not stupid, I knew about Molly… and you lied to me about it,” she wrote. “I can’t even tell you how much respect I lost for you… but it makes this whole process from here on out much easier for me.”
In an interview with People following Monday’s finale, Mesnick insisted he had no choice in how the situation played out, claiming it was “part of the deal” in his contract — a sentiment echoed in his reply e-mail to Rycroft.
“The producers had a lot to do with it. I am so sorry. This is so horrible,” Mesnick wrote.
Yet, Rycroft didn’t seem to be buying her former fiance’s reasoning.
“You are a grown man and perfectly capable of making your own decisions,” she replied in a subsequent e-mail. “Own your actions and stop blaming this process.”
In a later e-mail, dated Jan. 21, Mesnick answered Rycroft’s note, even going as far as to say he had suffered karmic retribution for calling off the engagement.
“You don’t deserve any of it at all. I wish there were more that I could say. I want to take all of your pain away and put it on me,” he replied. “If you are talking about karma, I slipped and fell and had a huge gash in my leg 3 inches wide and to the bone. I deserve so much worse for what I am doing to you.”
And in the final e-mail uncovered by Access between the two, also dated Jan. 21, Rycroft harkened back to Mesnick being dumped by “Bachelorette” DeAnna Pappas prior to his run as the “Bachelor.”
“I do think it’s a little ironic that you kept telling me, ‘Morally, how could I ever get back with DeAnna after what she did to me?’ And I agree… just seems like a very similar situation with your new lady… Just a little irony I guess,” Rycroft wrote. “Seeing the person that you became, you are right: a relationship between you and I would never work out… I’m not mad… I’m not hurt – seeing how things were handled helped me get over things quickly.
“I do wish you both the best though. Take care,” Rycroft wrote.