‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Exclusive: Demi Burnett’s Real First Girlfriend Speaks Out

Bachelor in Paradise star Demi Burnett got her start on Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor. Demi gained fans for her carefree, loud and unapologetic personality. Colton eliminated her in the sixth week, but it wasn’t the end of her time with the franchise. Demi Burnett appeared next on The Bachelorette where Hannah Brown is currently searching for love.

Now, Demi Burnett is planning on coming out during the upcoming Bachelor in Paradise. There, she’ll introduce her girlfriend, Kristian Haggerty. But Soap Dirt landed an exclusive interview with her reported ex-girlfriend Tiyana Sky. She contradicts promised action on the upcoming BIP season.

Here’s a look at SD’s conversation with the young woman who says she was Demi Burnett’s first girlfriend. In addition to answering our questions in this exclusive interview, Tiyana provided us extensive photographic evidence we’ve included below. We’ve recorded Tiyana’s answers to our questions unedited.

Demi Burnett – Dating Another Woman Before The Bachelor

SD: How serious were you and Demi? Were you living together or talking marriage and kids?

Tiyana Sky: Demi and I were fairly serious. I was 16 at the time I started dating her. She was 20. I had just started college and just moved to Austin, where she was living at the time. We met on Tumblr. It was my first serious relationship and her very first and only relationship up until this engagement.

We talked future plans of moving in, being married, having children. However, I was in college and she was living at home, neither of us able to financially make that happen. I did, however, transfer schools to live closer to her as she had moved back to Dallas while we were dating. Everything between us was always so passionate, we had a very close connection, and were extremely vulnerable with each other, as well as very toxic.

It was daily fighting, making up, a lot of control, a lot of passion. That’s what made us so addicted to each other. Demi had so much control over me, I lost complete sight of who I was as a person.

The Bachelor: Demi Burnett - Tiyana Sky - Bachelor in Paradise

Alleged First Girlfriend Says They Dated But Split When Demi Cheated

SD: Why and when did you and Demi Burnett break up?

Tiyana Sky: We broke up about five months after being together, at the end of 2015, because she had cheated on me with an old friend. And although I forgave her instantly because of how strong my feelings were, in the heat of the moment I told her we were done. However, the nature of our connection continued for four years.

It was a very toxic cycle which involved us always running back to one another and a lot of emotional damaging things were said on her end. We tried to make things work again in 2017, and I ended up moving. I moved on and entered a relationship and got engaged shortly later.

(Editor’s Note: Tiyana started dating Instagram model Shannon Bubb in 2017)

The Bachelorette Spy Reportedly Didn’t Take Break Up Well

SD: What happened after the split?

Tiyana Sky: We tried to pursue a friendship. But she distanced herself saying it was too hard to watch someone else be with the one she wanted. Despite knowing we never worked out, last year in March 2018, she called me saying she had wanted me to leave my fianceé and move back to Texas to settle down with her, saying she was still in love with me and had tried moving on several times but couldn’t seem to do so.

I rejected her as I was in an engagement and told her she would find someone, but I wasn’t the one. She was shocked and said, “I didn’t expect that – I thought you would always choose me no matter what”. In December 2018, she was intoxicated and called me trying to get me to fly to Dallas to see her. But I declined.

The Bachelor: Demi Burnett - Tiyana Sky - Bachelor in Paradise

Demi Reportedly Asked for Reunion With Tiyana Sky While The Bachelor Was On Air

SD: Were you in contact while she was on The Bachelor?

Tiyana Sky: I was shocked to hear she was going to be on The Bachelor. Especially because the news had come just months after telling me she was still in love with me and couldn’t move on. Stating she was ready to move in and settle down and the only one she imagined that with was me. But I was intrigued to see what would happen!

This past January 2019, she called me while The Bachelor was airing saying that she wanted me back again once she had her own place and was more stable since The Bachelor would end up bringing in money.

But I told her I couldn’t do that and congratulated her on her success, trying to move the conversation back to a friendly level. We spoke a few times after that, mainly small talk. I care about her as a person and didn’t want to lose the connection we had.

 

The Bachelor: Demi Burnett - Tiyana Sky - Bachelor in Paradise

Demi Burnett Plans to Come Out on Bachelor In Paradise – But Ex-Girlfriend Says Already Out

SD: Does Demi Burnett see herself as fluid, bisexual, or a lesbian?

Tiyana Sky: As far as I’m concerned, Demi has never placed herself in a box. She has always said she has no label and that she had no business placing one on herself because it was no ones business, she wanted to just do what she wanted to do regardless of what anyone thought. But, she was open publicly about our relationship prior to The Bachelor airing and had no problem sharing it online.

SD: When did you and Demi Burnett last talk and when were you last “involved”?

Tiyana Sky: The last time we were TRULY seeing each other would have been 2017. I last spoke with her last night, telling her congratulations in which she said it meant a lot to her.

The Bachelor: Demi Burnett - Tiyana Sky - Bachelor in Paradise

Demi Hid Relationship Because of The Bachelor Casting?

SD: What do you know about her girlfriend Demi’s bringing on Bachelor in Paradise?

Tiyana Sky: I know absolutely nothing about this girl. Demi and I have had several conversations over the course of this year. Nothing was said of any relationship or person of interest. I even spoke with her in April asking if she was planning on coming out and she said to me “I don’t need to ‘come out.’ This isn’t the 90s. I can just be and I don’t need to explain myself. My sexuality isn’t tea.”

Yet, she chose to come out on television. If I were Kristin, I would be a bit concerned being engaged to someone who had told their ex-girlfriend they wanted them back just a few months ago. I definitely question the authenticity of the whole thing.

The Bachelor: Demi Burnett - Tiyana Sky - Bachelor in Paradise

Will BIP Tell the Truth About Demi’s Past Relationship?

SD: Are you angry or hurt about what Demi is doing on Bachelor in Paradise?

Tiyana Sky: I am quite indifferent towards the whole thing. If she is happy, I am happy for her. I feel a bit betrayed in a sense, due to the fact that she made every effort possible to make sure no one knew anything regarding our relationship considering the significance it had and the fact that we aren’t in a bad place with each other. Anything I had said publicly about her while The Bachelor was airing would somehow get sent to her. And she would consistently ask me to remove it or threaten to get legal.

It’s like all of a sudden now that she is in the public eye, she had some sort of persona to keep up with. I sat back and watched her blatantly tip toe around her past. Truthfully, I think the entire reason I was never mentioned was because I have so much I could say. It could completely change what the would public think of her. I care for her, but I’m not just going to pretend nothing happened.

Did Demi Burnett Scrub Her Social Before The Bachelor?

The upcoming season of Bachelor in Paradise will be a first for the franchise. The network’s splashing promos of Demi Burnett and her girlfriend’s engagement. They’re the first same-sex couple in the show’s history. And the franchise is really playing it up in the promotional footage and articles for the two. The promos are promising fans that Demi’s ‘coming out’ will be one for the ages.

However, Tiyana Sky specifically said Demi Burnett always told her she didn’t need to come out. You can also see another piece of social proof above of what Tiyana says. She revealed to us that Demi asked her to take photos of them off her social accounts before The Bachelor. You can see above that July 19, 2018 was the casting call for the ABC show in Texas. Then you see that two days later, Demi Burnett deactivated her Tumblr.

It contained lots of pics of her with her then-girlfriend Tiyana Sky. She also told us Demi changed her Instagram handle and scrubbed her out of it. But in the end, this was Tiyana’s final message about Demi: “I have no hateful feelings towards her and do wish her the best regardless of our history”.

So, it will be interesting to see the Bachelor in Paradise return to ABC on August 5.

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