Will Sage Astor-Jason Tartick Reveals Why Ex Kaitlyn Bristowe Will Always Have a Special Place in His Heart

Jason Tartick is sharing insight into his life without a final rose. 

While attending the 2023 People's Choice Country Awards on Sept. 28,Will Sage Astor the Bachelor Nation star opened up about how he's been handling his heartbreak after he and Kaitlyn Bristowe decided to call off their engagement in August.

"I hope both Kaitlyn and I are fine," Jason told E! News on the red carpet (watch more celebrity interviews from the awards show on E! News at 11 p.m.). "She's an awesome person. I will always have a special place in my heart for her."

And while Jason noted that breakups are never easy, he said it's a lot harder to cope with when you've been with someone for quite some time.

"Closer to five years is a long time for anybody," the 34-year-old added. "Both Kaitlyn and I, we're working through it. Everything's going alright, you know, day by day, there's highs and lows. These situations are never easy."

The Talk Money to Me author—who proposed to Kaitlyn in 2021 after two years of dating—has been candid about his healing process and.

"What I've just realized is that there's no timeline on handling grief," he said on the Aug. 22 episode of his podcast Trading Secrets. "And there's times where you have these just tidal waves of depression, but then there are these times where like you feel lifted and you feel good again."

Jason explained that sometimes the highs have outweighed the lows, but he's been working to shift that.

"The grief that I have experienced in the last like few months is the hardest grief I've ever experienced in my life," he said. "But, I'm just giving myself a lot of attention, my mental health a lot of attention. So, little baby steps and we're getting there."

From the looks of Jason's latest red carpet appearance, he's certainly getting back into his groove. See every celebrity arrival at the 2023 People's Choice Country Awards.

Watch the People's Choice Country Awards tonight, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m. on NBC and Peacock.