‘Bachelor’ Star Clayton Echard Accused of Fathering Twins in Paternity Lawsuit

Clayton Echard is facing a new lawsuit. Last month, an unnamed podcast host from Arizona filed a lawsuit claiming that the 30-year-old Bachelor alum is the father of her unborn twins. 

In a statement, Echard told The U.S. Sun, who was first to report news of the lawsuit, “My response is in the court documents. I’m not giving it the time of day because it’s baseless. We did not have sexual intercourse.”

According to Page Six, who obtained the court docs, the woman in question alleges that she had a one-night-stand with Echard on May 20, which, she claims, resulted in her pregnancy. 

The woman, who says her due date is in February, claims that she took two at-home pregnancy tests, both of which she says came back positive, before confirming her babies on the way at an urgent care facility in June, the outlet reports.

After sending the results to Echard, the woman claims that he didn’t believe she was pregnant and began sending her “erratic, illogical and threatening messages,” per the outlet.

The woman, the outlet says, included screenshots of Echard’s alleged messages in her lawsuit, some of which read “I legitimately hate you right now,” “You have lost your mind and I hope YOU think about how terrible this is that you would subject me to this,” and “My personal hell would be having to have you be a part of my life.”

“I would like for you to get an abortion (if you are pregnant with my child, which I still don’t believe, but it doesn’t really matter either way),” another of Echard’s alleged messages read, per the outlet. “If you do not, that’s your choice. Then, in that case, if it ends up being my child, I have decided that either you’ll take 100% custody of the child, or it will be put up for adoption. I will not be raising it in any capacity.”

In the docs, the outlet reports, the woman claims that Echard told her that they only engaged in oral sex. The woman claims that she eventually went back to Echard’s apartment where, she alleges, he asked her to take a pregnancy test that he had purchased in his presence, the outlet reports, further alleging that the test came back positive.

Afterward, the woman claims Echard texted her, “I don’t see you as a liar anymore,” according to the outlet. However, the woman claims, that Echard later “demand[ed] alternative forms of proof of pregnancy beyond the medical report,” per the outlet.

The woman additionally alleges that, after she “offered more than 50 times in writing” to undergo a prenatal paternity test, Echard backed out of a scheduled appointment, according to the outlet, though he has since rescheduled the test for Sept. 26. 

However, in response to the woman’s suit, Echard claimed in court docs, which the outlet obtained, that he’s the one who repeatedly requested a paternity test, even though he believes the case is “groundless and lacking in merit” because they “never had sexual intercourse.”

Fans first met Echard when he appeared on Michelle Young‘s season of The Bachelorette in 2021. He went on to lead the franchise on season 26 of The Bachelor.

During his season, Echard confessed that he slept with both Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey, and admitted that he was in love with both of them. That revelation prompted Susie Evans to self-eliminate from the show, though she and Echard rekindled their romance shortly thereafter. The duo officially called it quits in September 2022, six months after the season finale aired.  

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