Deandra Kanu, Michelle Young, Nayte Olukoya Shutterstock (3)
What’s really going on with Nayte OlukoyaAfter his split, Michelle Young? Us WeeklyGet an exclusive update on the BacheloretteOne month after his broken engagement, season 18 winner was announced by Bachelor Nation.
“Nayte moved to Los Angeles two weeks ago. It’s something that’s been in the back of his mind for some time,” a source tells Us, noting that he’s sharing a place with fellow BacheloretteSeason 18 contestant Rodney Mathews. “Nayte wants to get into modeling. He’s still doing tech sales so modeling would be more of a hobby.”
The source adds, “He’s enjoying the summer, getting to spend time with friends and getting situated in L.A. He’ll be doing more traveling like to Cancun in August.”
Olukoya, 28, and Young, 29, announced their split last month and it wasn’t long before he was linked to Deandra KanuBelow are some photos of the BachelorSeason 24 alum wearing the necklace at his July birthday party. According to the source, however, “there’s absolutely nothing going on between Nayte and Deandra.”
“Him giving her his necklace to wear was just a friendly gesture,” the source insists. “Nayte is single and happy that way — he’s not looking to jump into another relationship right away. He’s not dating and he’s not on the prowl. He’s happy being single.”
Mathews and Kanu aren’t Olukoya’s only pals in Bachelor Nation, however. He reunited with Young’s runner-up — Brandon Jones — at CELSIUS Energy Drink’s Arctic Vibe: Sparkling Frozen Berry launch party and Joia Beach in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, July 21. According to an eyewitness, the men appeared to be “good friends” and enjoyed Zedd’s DJ set at the bash.
Olukoya originally planned to move from Texas to California to be with Young, but he was forced to relocate after Young’s proposal aired on December 2021. The Bachelorette. He admitted that he had never made the move after the news of their split broke.
“Plans changed as we decided there was no need to rush anything and get to know each other on a deeper level before taking the leap of living together,” he wrote via Instagram Stories. “There’s no rush in life. There’s no rule book or timeline on how to go about your relationship. We believed that everything would happen naturally and in its own way, because the love was there. … We tried. It didn’t work. We’re sad about it. We all grieve different.”
Young, for her part has been open about the good and bad days after the split. During an appearance on the “Almost Famous” podcast earlier this month, she hinted that she was blindsided by the split.
“I will say this is not something that I foresaw and I’ll leave it there,” the former teacher said.
BacheloretteSeason 18 cohost Kaitlyn Bristowe echoed her comments on her “Off the Vine” podcast earlier this month.
“She was confused because I think it was, like, after her birthday, and she was like, ‘Wait, what?’ I don’t know what happened,” Bristowe, 37, said. “I don’t know this for a fact — it’s just in my opinion. I’m like, ‘Did he just, like, like the attention, or did he find someone else?’ Because it did feel abrupt.”
Diana Cooper reports
