Bachelor Nation’s Clayton Echard is speaking out after Laura Owens pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to a pregnancy fraud case.
“It’s the first time that we’ve seen Laura take any accountability in this matter,” Echard, 33, said in a TikTok video on Saturday, August 29, later explaining, “Upon the ending of yesterday’s court hearing, I found myself telling the other guys, the other victims, it was anticlimactic what occurred yesterday. I felt numb and emotionless. I couldn’t understand why that was.”
He continued, “I woke up today and after reflecting more … It’s because my healing was not contingent upon what occurred yesterday. I have already healed. I’m grateful for this entire experience — I know that sounds backwards. The amount of resilience I’ve built through all of this, the community I have found with all of this adversity, the power of presence that I’ve gained. The insight. Everything that has come from all of this. I would do it 1,000 times over because I’m proud of the man I’ve become through it all.”
Owens, 36, originally sued Echard in August 2023, claiming she was pregnant with his twins. Echard denied he’d had sexual intercourse with Owens during their one-night stand, with a paternity test showing that there was “little to no fetal DNA” present. (Owens has said that she had a miscarriage and claimed to have two lab tests to prove she was pregnant.)
@clayton.echard My thoughts on yesterday’s court hearing, where Laura agreed to plea to 4 felony charges.
In 2024, an Arizona judge granted Echard’s request for non-paternity and Owens was subsequently indicted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on criminal charges for perjury and fraud, among others. The charges relate to both Owens’ paternity allegations against Echard and against another Scottsdale man in 2021. (Owens originally pleaded not guilty in 2024.)
As part of her plea deal, prosecutors agreed on Friday, August 28, to drop other criminal charges if she pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifice, one count of perjury and one count of taking the identity of another, per The Mercury News. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office specified that the identity charge derived from Owens allegedly stealing another woman’s ultrasound image.
“It does not really matter to me what happens to Laura at this point,” Echard said on Saturday.
The case became the subject of popular podcast “Love Trapped,” which investigated accusations that Owens may have used similar legal tactics against other exes. (Owens denied any wrongdoing.)
“From the podcast, we’ve seen millions of people — which I never thought it would get to that level of a community — people have come together and fought for justice and we are on that track where we are seeing justice be served,” he said. “In two months, we will see a final end to that [when Owens is sentenced].”
Despite their three-year legal battle, Echard said he was “proud” of Owens for taking responsibility for her actions.
“Laura has never been able to take an ounce of accountability until yesterday,” he said. “That’s not lost upon me, how huge that was. I think that’s a major, potentially life-altering step in Laura’s life where her taking a sliver of accountability yesterday could be the turning point for her. I want that for Laura. I want Laura to heal. I want her to see brighter days.”
Echard called on Owens to “share why she did what she did” to help bring closure to those impacted by her actions.
“There is more healing in Laura’s redemption than there is in her destruction,” he argued.
Owens will be sentenced on October 23. Echard said in Saturday’s TikTok video that he will ask the judge to impose a prison sentence.
