Clayton Echard Is 'Really Happy' for Ex Susie Evans amid Relationship with Justin Glaze as They're 'Way More Compatible'

Clayton Echard is happy to see his ex Susie Evans moving on after their 2022 split.

On the July 18 episode of the Reality Steve Podcast, the former Bachelor star, 31, gave an update on where he stands with Evans, 30, after she confirmed her relationship with fellow Bachelor Nation alum Justin Glaze in January.

"I wouldn't say we're friends at this point,” he explained. “We don't keep in contact. I mean and Justin's cool. I've had conversations with Justin. Like, there's not like this weird, awkward tension between us.” 

Echard shared that he is “really happy” for Evans and Glaze, adding, “They seem to be way more compatible than what Susie and I were. They feel like a natural fit.” 

The former football player sees how the pair found common ground over their shared interests, as he notes, “They're very creative…She's a videographer, he's a photographer. I mean, they seem to mesh really well. And so I'm happy.”

The television personality adds that after talking with Justin “a few times” on social media, he thinks he’s “cool.”

Echard and Evans, who he met on his season of The Bachelor, announced their split in a joint Instagram statement in September 2022. At the time, the pair shared, in part, "With incredibly heavy hearts, we wanted to share that we have decided to go our separate ways. For anyone who has ever loved, knows this was a painful decision to make and not one taken lightly."

More recently, Echard won the paternity suit that was filed against him by Laura Owens.

In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Owens had claimed that Echard fathered her unborn twins during a one-night stand. Echard alleged that she had "fabricated her pregnancy, a condition which cannot have resulted from the parties’ interactions, because according to [him] they never had sexual intercourse."

On June 18, the judge agreed with Echard, stating in a ruling that Owens “knowingly presented a false claim, knowingly violated a court order compelling disclosure or discovery,” as she was unable to present an "authentic ultrasound, sonogram [or] physical examination" to prove her claims. Echard had already confirmed via a paternity test that he had not fathered the twins.

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On the podcast, the reality star also expressed his gratitude for Evans deciding to "put herself out there" to support him amid his trial.

"I was so grateful. When she came out, I'd saw that she said, 'Listen, Clayton might be a lot of things, but he's not a liar,' and that meant a lot to me, because she didn't have to say anything," he said.

"But, like, that's somebody that I got to know on a personal level, you know, pretty deeply," he added. "And she didn't have to [say anything], but she was like, 'Listen, I know that my voice is going to get people to understand or come around.'"