Friendly exes! Less than one week after announcing their split, John Hersey and Katie Thurston enjoyed a group outing to the San Diego County Fair on Thursday, June 23.
“I dedicate this summer to myself ☀️,” the former Bachelorette, 31, captioned an Instagram video of her and Tammy Ly. Hersey, 28, for his part, also documented the fun trip and reposted a clip of his ex-girlfriend on a ride with her friends.
The reunion comes after Thurston recently took to social media to confirm her split from Hersey following less than one year of dating. “Statement: No, we aren’t together,” she wrote via Instagram Story on Monday, June 20.
Hersey also released a statement where he reflected on the breakup. “I love being able to share special moments with you all — the funny ones. The happy ones. The outrageous, embarrassing, and heartfelt ones. But I don’t know if it will ever get easier to share the sad ones. As Katie stated earlier, we are no longer dating,” he wrote on Tuesday, June 21, via Instagram Stories. “This decision was not made lightly, and it was obviously not an easy one to make.”
The California native added: “I appreciate every one of you that has supported us throughout this journey. We could not (and would not) be here without you.”
The former couple originally met during season 17 of The Bachelorette in 2021. At the time, Thurston chose to send Hersey home during week two of the competition. The former bank marketing manager then got engaged to Blake Moynes after he crashed the ABC series to win her heart. Three months after the finale aired on screen, Thurston and Moynes, 31, pulled the plug on their relationship.
In November 2021, Us Weekly confirmed that Thurston moved on with Hersey. At the time, the bartender took to social media to defend his relationship.
“Katie and I developed an incredible and deep friendship over the last half year or so. The circumstances by which this friendship formed was a series of crazy, random and coincidental events, that I’m sure you will all hear about at a later time,” he wrote on Reddit that same month. “My point for now is that we were ALWAYS platonic. Even during my short stint on the season, we never had a chance to foster anything romantic (read as: John blew his chance and left the next day hahaha). The boundaries of our friendship with respect to her ongoing relationship never even required addressing, because it was never a thought in our minds that we would ever be anything more.”
Scroll down for photos from Thurston and Hersey’s post-split reunion: