‘The Bachelor’ Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph Split in Fallout Following Coronavirus Diagnosis

The Bachelor stars Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph have called it quits as revealed by the former couple in individual posts on their Instagram pages Friday evening. Underwood quarantined with Randolph and her family during the coronavirus pandemic, with her family helping him while he battled COVID-19. The couple met during Underwood’s Bachelor season in 2018 and although he picked Randolph, they never officially got engaged.

Underwood broke the news on his Instagram page with a black and white photo of the couple looking out to the sea together. He said the couple made the decision after a lot of “self-reflecting” and decided the two were “just meant” to be friends. “We both have grown immensely and been through so much together — so this isn’t the end of our story, it’s the start of a whole new chapter for us,” Underwood wrote. Randolph responded to the post by simply adding two heart emojis.

Randolph shared a gallery of photos taken during their relationship and called the split “one of the hardest things” she had to share. Since their relationship played out in public, she felt it was necessary to tell their fans the news. “Colton and I have broken up, but have decided to remain a part of each others’ lives. With all that we have gone through, we have a special bond that will always be there,” Randolph wrote, later adding that she still loves Underwood and has an “enormous amount of respect” for him. “We have both learned and grown so much these past couple years, and will always have each other’s back. Always,” she wrote at the end of the post.

Rumors that the two broke up surfaced after Underwood went back to Colorado after quarantining with Randolph’s family in Southern California, notes E! News. Underwood revealed he rested positive for the coronavirus in late March and was faced “rougher” symptoms than he expected. A few days later, he revealed he no longer had the coronavirus. Underwood said some of the symptoms he faced included shortness of breath, which he called the “most crippling one” and the “most challenging one.”

During a recent E! News Daily Pop interview, Underwood said he thought the ordeal only made the couple stronger. “Cass is a great nurse and followed all the guidelines and everything, so I can’t say enough good things about her,” he said at the time. As for why they never married or got engaged, Randolph told E! News in 2019 they wanted to take things “day by day.”