The Bachelorette bachelor Nate Mitchell allegedly hid his daughter and pending divorce from his girlfriend of a year-and-a-half and also cheated on her.
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Nate was shown telling Gabby Windey during their first one-on-one date of The Bachelorette season how he has a six-year-old daughter, his “mini me,” who is his entire “world.”
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While Nate made it seem like his daughter comes first in his life and is his main priority, he allegedly kept her a secret from a woman named Kelsey Fankhauser whom he had seriously dated from January 2020 through late November 2022, according to Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone.
Kelsey also came forward claiming Nate had been two-timing her with multiple women throughout their relationship and he was also going through a divorce at the time, unbeknownst to her.
While Carbone didn’t note the date of separation for Nate and his ex-wife, Kelsey said she just recently discovered that Nate and his ex-wife’s divorce wasn’t finalized until nearly a year into her romance with the 33-year-old electrical engineer from Chicago, IL.
Kelsey first spoke out about the scandal, publicly, once The Bachelorette aired Gabby and Nate’s one-on-one date in Episode 2. Kelsey posted a TikTok video with a “Shame on me” caption.
In the video, Kelsey wrote, “I cried for a guy who kept his kid a secret from me for 1.5 years when we were dating and I found out on reality TV.”
Fans assumed she was talking about Nate at the time, and then Kelsey’s friend contacted Carbone with the story, which prompted the spoiler blogger to reach out to Kelsey for answers.
“She told me it was true but I needed to see proof,” Carbone wrote in an August 9 blog post. “I wasn’t going to even just transcribe what she told me. I told her I needed a timeline of their relationship and needed proof.”
Carbone said Kelsey proceeded to send him 38 photos and screenshots featuring Nate as well as a timeline of their relationship.
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The photos began in January 2020, and in December of that year, Kelsey claimed she met a woman, one of Nate’s female friends, at a wedding who had supposedly hooked up with Nate just two weeks prior.
In January 2021, Kelsey said she went to Nate’s birthday party and met his twin brother and the brother’s girlfriend. Kelsey claimed she had talked about wanting kids with Nate’s family and what she would name her future children — and Nate’s daughter never came up in conversation.
Kelsey claimed that Nate later went on a Tinder date with a girl named Laree Starke in early February 2021 in Atlanta and she had no idea about it. Nate allegedly took Laree on a Valentine’s Day date on February 6, only to take Kelsey out a week later on February 14.
“This is when I first thought things were getting serious,” Kelsey told Carbone of The Bachelorette suitor.
Nate allegedly met Kelsey’s father later that month, and she told Carbone that she and Nate were “100% exclusive” by April 15, 2021.
Nate allegedly met her whole family in May of that year but then things became rocky in June 2021, around the time Nate had been introduced to Kelsey’s mother.
Nate allegedly ghosted Kelsey for a week in early July and she didn’t know why.
Kelsey said Laree then messaged her in mid-August with the news she had also been seeing Nate.
Although Kelsey had been warned, she continued dating The Bachelorette suitor from July through November 2021.
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Kelsey and Nate’s relationship allegedly ended via text in late November 2021, when Nate supposedly wished Kelsey a Happy Thanksgiving and they ended on good terms.
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Kelsey told Carbone that on January 7, 2022, she saw Nate’s friend from the ski trip again.
“She told me he was dating someone new (met her at a wedding he didn’t invite me to) and that he was hooking up with her friend. Got pissed and texted Nate ‘I always knew you were sus,'” Kelsey wrote to Carbone. “[I] cut ties with him officially and deleted his number.”
Kelsey then found out on March 23, 2022 that Nate was going to be competing on The Bachelorette’s nineteenth season, which also stars Rachel Recchia.
“The episode before his first 1-on-1 date is when I found out he had a daughter for the first time,” Kelsey wrote to Carbone.
Kelsey said she never found out about Nate’s daughter because she had only spent one night at his place and never saw a child’s bedroom, toys or anything else suspect. However, Kelsey told Carbone that she always felt like something was “off” with Nate.
And Kelsey added in her recent conversation with Carbone, “Two weeks ago I found out from Laree for the first time that he was once married and his divorce wasn’t finalized until [December] of 2020.”
After hearing from Kelsey, Carbone said he contacted Laree to corroborate Kelsey’s story, and Laree confirmed she had been involved with Nate from January through March 2021, which overlapped with Kelsey and Nate’s relationship.
Laree claimed that when Nate went on a Valentine’s Day 2021 dinner with Kelsey in Chicago on February 14 — one week after Nate and Laree’s holiday dinner date in Atlanta — Nate allegedly sent Laree flowers while he was also showering Kelsey with gifts.
Nate allegedly called Laree his “lifetime angel” on the card and said she had “stolen pieces of [his] heart” and he never felt “a mature type of love and care before” from a woman.
Carbone insisted that Kelsey and Laree aren’t lying and there’s evidence of their relationships with Nate.
When Carbone asked Kelsey why she chose to speak out about Nate, she replied, “I wish Nate all the best. I don’t want to affect his future, but it’s important for me to try and prevent another girl from being blindsided by his secrecies.”
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Carbone concluded that Nate had allegedly been playing at least two women at once and kept his daughter a secret from a woman he had dated for a year-and-a-half.
“I get not wanting to introduce your child to someone new you’re dating. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to that. Some do it right away, some wait a few months, some wait longer,’ Carbone wrote in his blog post.
“To each their own. No one is coming down on Nate for that. But to not even TELL someone you’re dating you have a kid? That’s just bizarre.”
Nate responded to these allegations of deceit and infidelity with a brief Instagram comment, according to Us Weekly.
“Two sides to every story. [Praying hands emoji]. Wish u the best,” Nate responded to an Instagram comment from someone who asked, “Why you playing girls?”
Nate continues to receive roses from Gabby on The Bachelorette, and he even appears to be a frontrunner.
Click here to read The Bachelorette spoilers to find out how far Nate makes it on the season.
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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.