Bachelor in Paradise couple Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon, who are expecting a baby together, have revealed they are living apart.
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Ashley said she is living in Virginia with her parents ahead of her first child’s February due date while Jared is holding down the fort and running the couple’s new business in Rhode Island.
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“We made the decision, [but] it was mostly my decision, obviously. He didn’t give a crap what I decided on this, he just wanted me to be comfortable,” Ashley, 33, told Us Weekly in a video interview on Tuesday.
The Bachelor alum apparently wants to give birth to her son, who the couple plans to name Dawson Demitri, at the Virginia hospital where her father works.
“I always just thought, ‘I want to deliver at the hospital that my dad’s worked at for almost three decades.’ It’s just a place where I feel comfortable. I visited [it] so many times and volunteered [there],” Ashley explained.
Ashley, who had even done school projects at that hospital, also got to know many of the other doctors.
“I wanted to be somewhere where I was the most comfortable, especially since I’m, like, legitimately terrified of birth and always have been,” Ashley admitted.
“Who’s not terrified of birth?” asked Jared, who participated in the video interview from a different location.
“There are some people who are, like, excited about experiencing it, and I am just the opposite,” Ashley said.
Jared, 33, pointed out how a woman giving birth is “a beautiful and wonderful thing” because she’s “giving life” and “that’s awesome.”
“But for the woman going through it,” Jared began.
“You have no idea what it’s going to be like!” Ashley interjected.
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When Ashley made the decision to temporarily live in Virginia, however, she had no idea they’d be responsible for Audrey’s Coffee House & Lounge in Rhode Island, which the pair opened in December 2021 and now own and operate.
At the time Ashley got pregnant, the coffee lounge was “just a concept” in her mind and she said she doesn’t recall having signed a lease for the building at that point.
“This is not ideal. I thought he’d be able to stay here with me for the four weeks leading up [to the birth] and probably three or four weeks afterward, but he’s going to fly in at least every 10 days,” Ashley revealed of Jared.
“And starting tomorrow, we might get a better idea as to when I’m going to deliver or if I’m going to be induced or anything like that. So I’m not worried about him being here for the actual birth.”
Jared — who was distracted with number-crunching and checking on inventory in his office during the interview — confirmed, “I will run through heaven and hell to make sure I’m there. I’m not worried about that.”
But even if Audrey’s Coffee House & Lounge had opened much earlier, Ashley acknowledged, “I don’t think it would have changed anything” about her plan to spend almost two months in Virginia.
Ashley, who is currently 36 weeks along in her pregnancy, also said she doesn’t have “much of a [birth] plan” other than making sure she receives an epidural.
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After about seven months of trying to conceive and Jared undergoing sperm analysis, the couple revealed during an Amazon Live session in July 2021 that they’re expecting their first child and the baby is due on February 10, 2022.
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The pair then announced in August 2021 that Ashley is pregnant with a baby boy and they already had a name picked out for him.
“We always thought it was going to be a boy, even before I was pregnant,” Ashley said at the time. “When I was pregnant and getting so sick, everyone was like, ‘You are definitely having a girl.”
Ashley admitted she “did want a girl” when she got pregnant and it “took a little bit” of time for her to come around to the idea of having a son since there are so many women in her family.
“I’ve always wanted to do the boyband and princess thing with my daughter,” Ashley confessed.
“You can just make [our son] a boybander!” Jared sweetly assured his wife. “We need to start playing Backstreet Boys… [We’re going to] play a constant rotation of New Kids on The Block, Rob Thomas, [and] Backstreet Boys.”
Jared also said he’s “super excited” to share Star Wars, comic books and sports with his son.
“I’ve always dreamed of coaching my son’s little league team, so I hope he likes playing baseball,” Jared gushed.
“I guess we’ll find out. And I really hope he becomes the next kicker for the New England Patriots. There’s a much more realistic chance of him getting into college [for that].”
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Ashley and Jared got married on August 11, 2019 at United Congregational Church Newport, RI, followed by a reception at Rosecliff, an oceanfront Gilded Age mansion in the seaside city.
Ashley has said in the past she would be happy to have up to three children.
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Ashley and Jared met in 2015 on Season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise.
On the show, they sparked an on-again, off-again confusing romance that simmered into a friendship in which Ashley largely pined for Jared as he dated other women during the show’s second and third seasons.
Jared admittedly realized his feelings for Ashley and wanted what he couldn’t have when she sparked up a romance with Canadian firefighter Kevin Wendt on The Bachelor Winter Games.
Jared eventually won Ashley over and the couple confirmed they were dating in May 2018.
Jared then proposed marriage to Ashley and they got engaged the following month in Mexico while the fifth season of Bachelor in Paradise was filming.
Prior to their appearances on Bachelor in Paradise, Ashley competed for Chris Soules’ heart on The Bachelor’s nineteenth season and Jared found fame on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s edition of The Bachelorette for Season 11.
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About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.