Former Bachelorette contestant Jason Tartick and TikTok personality Kat Stickler have taken a significant step forward in their relationship.
On Wednesday, June 12, Stickler, 29, shared two photos of Tartick, 35, embracing her from behind on Instagram, along with the caption, “Heart is full 
.” In one of the photos, Tartick sweetly plants a kiss on a beaming Stickler’s face.
Although this post marks the couple’s official debut on Instagram, rumors of a romance between Stickler and Tartick have been circulating for months.
During an April episode of the “Scrubbing In With Becca Tilley & Tanya Red” podcast, Tartick playfully deflected relationship speculation, joking, “Where’d you hear those rumors?” He added that he was keeping his dating life “a little bit more private.” While he didn’t confirm their relationship at the time, he did have nothing but praise for Stickler, calling her “very special” and “awesome.”
Tartick and Stickler first crossed paths when she appeared as a guest on his “Trading Secrets” podcast in April.
“Are you flirting with me?” Tartick teasingly asked Stickler in a clip from the episode shared on his TikTok page. “I’m not flirting with you,” Stickler replied, before turning to the camera and asking, “Can we keep that on record?”
Tartick’s relationship with Stickler comes less than a year after he and fellow Bachelor Nation alum Kaitlyn Bristowe ended their engagement after four years together. In August 2023, the former couple announced their decision to part ways in a joint Instagram statement, expressing their gratitude for the support they received during their time together.
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In their statement, Tartick and Bristowe, 38, emphasized their intention to maintain a friendship and share custody of their beloved pets. “Our dogs Ramen & Pinot will continue to be cared for together as brothers. While their humans are no longer romantically involved, we will love and take care of them together,” they wrote.
In a candid conversation on former Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison’s “Most Dramatic Podcast Ever” in December 2023, Tartick opened up about the emotional aftermath of his breakup with Bristowe, revealing that he had cried more during that time than ever before in his life.
Reflecting on his relationship with Bristowe, Tartick shared, “Kaitlyn meant so much to me and still currently does. … I just get so worried about the repercussions of what I say, and I care, still, so much for her, and it’s really, really hard for me to have these conversations.” He attributed their split to a “deteriorating complacency” in their relationship.
While Bristowe has not directly addressed Tartick’s new relationship with Stickler, she received an outpouring of support from friends after the couple went public. On Wednesday, Bristowe shared a video of herself crying on her Instagram Story, explaining, “I’m having a hard day, it started this morning. I’m just having a hard day with some things, and my girlfriend sent me a text saying, ‘Just wanted you to know I’m thinking of you,’ [and] I’m like, ‘How do you know I’m having a meltdown?'”
Kaitlyn Bristowe has been vocal about her desire to start a family. Before Jason Tartick’s proposal, the former Bachelorette spoke on multiple occasions about her plans to have children with the banker. The couple began dating in January 2019, two months after Bristowe ended her engagement with Shawn Booth. In September 2020, Tartick […]
She continued, “I’ve had a couple of people reach out and be like, ‘I’m thinking of you,’ and I don’t know why. How the f—k do you guys know that I’m having a bad day? I’m scared.”
Bristowe later shared another video, saying, “Now I get the messages,” alluding to the news of Tartick’s new relationship, and added that she had been “crying over dog stuff.”
Bristowe and Tartick met in 2018 after their respective appearances on Bachelor Nation shows. Stickler, on the other hand, was previously married to Mike Stickler, with whom she shares a 4-year-old daughter, Mary Katherine (MK). They were married from 2019 to 2021.