Along with opening up about his break up from Susie Evans, Clayton Echard additionally dishes to HL about his battle with Physique Dysmorphic Dysfunction and the way he is realized to deal with it.
Clayton Echard isn’t targeted on assembly somebody proper now. Simply weeks after he introduced his break up from Susie Evans, who he met on season 26 of The Bachelor, Clayton opened up about whether or not he’s able to put himself again on the market. “I’m simply protecting to myself proper now,” Clayton, who partnered with the Anxiousness & Despair Affiliation of America to share his expertise with Physique Dysmorphic Dysfunction, instructed HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “There’s nonetheless quite a lot of ache. The sentiments are nonetheless too contemporary. I’ve simply tried to prioritize myself, engaged on my ebook that’ I’m popping out with in a couple of months, and simply spending time to give attention to these items in life that I can do to raised enhance upon myself.”
Within the weeks since his break up, Clayton has been making it a precedence to “get outdoors and get some contemporary air,” whereas additionally getting in some high quality time together with his brother, who he lives with. “I’m actually prioritizing my psychological well being at this second,” Clayton admitted. “I really feel like I’m nonetheless therapeutic, so I don’t suppose bringing anyone else into the equation could be sensible once I’m nonetheless on this therapeutic stage.” However, would Clayton go on Bachelor in Paradise if he’s nonetheless single subsequent summer time? “I don’t use absolutes anymore!” he teasted. “I strive to not. However I don’t plan on happening TV once more. However I assume crazier issues have occurred!”
Regardless of breaking apart in September, Clayton mentioned that he and Susie nonetheless examine in with one another “occasionally.” They even did a joint podcast interview earlier this week, proving they’re on amicable phrases. “We clearly have love for one another, so we wish to ensure that we’re dealing with this breakup in a great way, or pretty much as good as we will,” Clayton defined. “We did the podcast as a result of we wish everybody to know that we’re solely going to talk on this as soon as, however we’re in help of one another and have a lot love for one another.”
Clayton additionally didn’t shut the door on a potential reconciliation together with his ex, who he was relationship lengthy distance earlier than their breakup. “Who is aware of what’s down the highway,” he mentioned. “Or what it appears like. However proper now, we simply really feel like we have to heal ourselves, and as soon as we’re capable of heal ourselves, who is aware of what the long run holds? Proper now, we’re taking the time to prioritize our personal psychological well-being individually.”
In our interview, Clayton additionally talked about his battle with Physique Dysmorphic Dysfunction, a psychological well being situation that causes folks to be overly involved a few bodily flaw. See extra from the Q&A under:
Why was it necessary so that you can publicly discuss your BDD? It’s acquired such a constructive response from the primary time I talked about it on a nationwide platform and it aired on TV. I had each women and men reaching out to me in my DMs on Instagram. They thanked me for being so open and susceptible. On the male facet of issues, the fellows would say, “I believed solely girls struggled with this, however it makes me really feel actually nice that I’m not alone.” It’s one thing that quite a lot of us battle with, however may not really feel comfy speaking about. It’s prevalent, however perhaps not as prevalent as different problems on the market.
I feel generally we really feel a way of guilt, like folks gained’t perceive us, so we’d moderately not discuss it. I used to see it as a difficulty that solely impacts a choose few and I didn’t wish to discuss it. I didn’t suppose it was prevalent amongst males, so I didn’t wish to put a goal on myself by opening up about it. However I’ve realized all that does is result in a pile up. So my huge focus now's having these conversations. It’s therapeutic and I see the profit throughout the board — the extra we discuss it, the extra it turns into commonplace in our discussions and the extra folks will come out and externalize their ache.
When did you notice you have been combating BDD?
It was most likely late highschool to varsity. I began to do analysis on-line and I began taking a look at assets and I discovered these statistics about how males endure from it simply as a lot as girls do. It was a shock to me as a result of my narrative prior didn't match with this true narrative. So my actuality was considerably of a mislead that time. Now, particularly with the highlight I’m in, I simply need to have the ability to spotlight this message to those that perhaps haven’t come to that place of understanding but.
Via partnering up with organizations just like the ADAA, they've help teams folks can be part of, or in the event that they wish to discover a therapist of their space, ADAA has a software for that. Speaking to those professionals and specialists and figuring out there’s assets on the market to raised handle the struggles…that’s what it’s all about.
Has being within the highlight amplified your battle with BDD?
There was an episode the place I used to be stripped down to only my briefs and I needed to run across the streets of LA and I keep in mind when that was going to air, I used to be freaked out. I believed if I had a foul physique then all of the folks on-line would let me know. However I’v since realized that that’s a really harmful place to place that a lot energy within the palms of others. Fortunately, by that have, I discovered that, to ensure that me to handle these struggles I've, I want to guard myself. I actually need to solely place weight within the opinions of these round me who love me. The present dropped at mild my insecurities in areas that I felt I believed I had grasp on, however realized I really needed to make changes to to raised defend myself long run.