She was branded a ‘cheater’ by her ex-boyfriend Grant Kemp earlier this year.
And on Monday, Ali Oetjen addressed the former couple’s bitter split as she prepares for The Bachelorette premiere next week.
While she did not deny Grant’s allegations, the 32-year-old told NW that the media coverage of their break-up left her ‘physically, mentally and emotionally broken.’
‘I was emotionally broken’: The Bachelorette’s Ali Oetjen (right) has said she went through the darkest period of her life when Grant Kemp (left) accused her of cheating on him. Pictured on Bachelor In Paradise
Describing the weeks after Grant levelled the cheating accusations as ‘one of the darkest periods of [her] life’, she said: ‘We all have those exes that don’t go away.
‘Without a doubt, Grant was a waste of my time. He just wasn’t the person he said he was. And yes, it was disappointing and crushing, but I learnt from this.’
She insisted, however, that she would ‘never give up on love’.
Centre of a scandal: While she did not deny Grant’s allegations, the 32-year-old told NW that the media coverage of their split left her ‘physically, mentally and emotionally broken’
Ali and Grant fell in love on Bachelor In Paradise, which was filmed in Fiji last year.
However, in May, the American firefighter made sensational claims that Ali cheated on him while she was staying at his LA home two months earlier.
‘I had left to go and find my friends,’ Grant told The Kyle and Jackie O Show. ‘I came back inside [my house] and [a man] was going down on her on my stairs. So I kicked her out of my house that night.’
Bombshell: Ali and Grant (pictured) fell in love on Bachelor In Paradise, which was filmed in Fiji last year. However, in May, the American firefighter made sensational claims that Ali cheated on him while she was staying at his LA home two months earlier
Ali has never denied or refuted Grant’s claims.
Explaining her decision to stay silent after the scandal, she told Stellar last month: ‘My reason for not saying anything is that I don’t want to give him any ammunition or any reason to keep coming back in the limelight, which is what he wants.’
The Bachelorette premieres Wednesday October 10 at 7:30pm on Network Ten
Ali has never denied or refuted Grant’s claims