Jason Tartick is in his Lover era thanks to girlfriend Kat Stickler.
The Bachelorette alum, 35, took to social media on Thursday, June 13, to share a sweet photo of Stickler, 28, which was taken the night before their first one-on-one date. Alongside the snap, Tartick wrote that he “had to share” the romantic gesture Stickler made after they met.
“The day after our first kiss, Kat was supposed to leave town and I was leaving the following day,” he wrote via Instagram. “She FaceTimed me when she got on the plane and said ‘Should I get off this plane and go to you? Is that too much? I should just stay on, right? But it would be pretty romantic…I think. What do you think?’ I told her to do it since she didn’t have [her daughter] MK that weekend… and she didn’t even hesitate.”
Tartick said that Sticker quickly grabbed all of her things from the overhead compartment and made a beeline for the exit.
“At this point everyone on the plane was sitting down,” he continued. “Flight attendant asked where she was going and all she said was ‘I’m gonna go see a boy I just met!!’ and then all the passengers started clapping and cheering and she left the plane and that night we had our first dinner where it was just us. I’ll never forget the feeling I had taking this picture right before that first date night.”
Tartick’s memory comes one day after he and Stickler went Instagram official with their romance. Stickler shared a series of selfies of the twosome getting cozy. In one snap, Tartick planted a kiss on a smiling Stickler’s face. “Heart is full 🫶,” she captioned the post.
The duo first sparked relationship speculation in April, when Stickler appeared on Tartick’s “Trading Secrets” podcast. Later that month, he played coy about the rumors during an episode of the “Scrubbing in With Becca Tilley and Tanya Rad” podcast, stressing that he is trying to keep “things a little bit more private” in his love life.
“There’s a lot that comes with [dating in the public eye], good and bad,” he explained. “And so, the whole dating aspect, which I’m relatively new to, I’m like, ‘You know what? For right now, today, I’m gonna kind of keep things private,’ until things become [more serious]. But right now, I’m keeping things a little private. But more to come.”
Later that month, he and Stickler stepped out together at Tartick’s Talk Money to Me book launch and Stagecoach, where they were spotted packing on the PDA.
“Jason was with Kat holding hands and he was guiding her to the front of Post Malone’s stage,” an eyewitness exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “She had a huge smile on her face and then they kissed. They looked really cute and he was protecting her in the crowd.”
Tartick’s was previously engaged to Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe, but the pair split in August 2023 after four years together. (Stickler, for her part, was married to Mike Stickler from 2019 to 2021, and the exes share 4-year-old daughter Mary Katherine a.k.a. MK.)
“After sharing the news with family and close friends first, and taking the time to properly process it ourselves, we are saddened with heavy hearts to share that we have decided to end our engagement,” the exes wrote in a joint Instagram statement at the time. “We are thankful for all of you who gave us the time and space to process this life altering decision as there are many emotions and changes to navigate.”
The two have continued to coparent their two dogs since calling it quits. On Wednesday, Bristowe offered a candid glimpse into her state of mind after Tartick and Stickler went IG official. In a Facebook group for her “Off the Vine” podcast, fans posted messages of support for the reality star amid the major development in Tartick’s life. When some fans began to speculate over how she felt about the news, Bristowe declared that there were “some wild assumptions” being made.
When another fan wrote, “We need to let go of the narrative that KB is hurt/saddened by Jason’s relationship. She has very clearly moved on. And truthfully, based on some of her cryptic comments, there’s no love lost on her part,” Bristowe clarified her feelings, replying, “It’s more of some held on anger and resentment that I’m working through!!! Not hurt.”
