Kriti Mehrotra
While you may remember Clayton Ray Echard as a former professional football athelete or a former reality star, he has recently been in the limelight for an entirely different reason. ‘The Bachelor’ season 26 lead is actually the subject of iHeartPodcasts’ ‘Love Trapped,’ which chronicles his tale with Laura Owens and how he found himself in a paternity nightmare. He had no idea that a one-night flight around early 2023 with an attractive young woman he had just met would turn his entire world upside down, yet that’s precisely what happened.
Clayton Echard Worked Hard to Establish a Name For Himself
Born on April 29, 1993, to Kelly and Brian Echard as the eldest of three boys, Clayton Echard admittedly grew up in a supportive household in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. He has never shied away from expressing how much his parents mean to him or how his tight-knit bond with his younger brothers, Nate and Patrick, has shaped him into the man he is today. In fact, it was with their unwavering backing that he was able to embrace his passion for playing football not only throughout his school and college years but also well beyond.
Clayton was around 11 or 12 years old when he first developed an interest in football as a sport, only to fall so head over heels in love with it after he started to play that he never looked back. According to records, he initially held the position of a wide receiver, but by the time he was a senior at Eureka High School in 2010-2011, he had evolved into a much bulkier defensive lineman. Despite him being a good athlete, he did not receive any sports scholarship offers upon graduation, so he decided to enroll at the University of Missouri before joining the Tigers as a walk-on.
It was Clayton’s collegiate career that transformed him from a good player to a great one, as he was able to really learn what it means to be a team player, especially with changing positions. After all, he played both defense and offense during his junior year before eventually settling as a tight end for his senior year in 2015 and his brief stint with the Seattle Seahawks in 2016. He signed with the NFL team in the summer of 2016 after earning his Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences with a minor in Spanish, but was cut before the start of the regular season in September.
Clayton Echard Struggled With His Mental Health After His Reality Television Stint
Clayton was serving as a Sales Representative for a medical device company called Stryker Corporation when he made his debut on television in ABC’s ‘The Bachelorette’ season 18 in 2021. That very same year, he was also announced as the lead of ‘The Bachelor’ season 26, which premiered in January 2022 and polarized its entire devoted fan base owing to a myriad of reasons. Things didn’t improve in terms of the audience’s perspective of him as the show continued, so even though he had found love with Susie Evans, he struggled to be happy and keep up his mental health.
According to Clayton’s own accounts, the public backlash, negative attention, loss of privacy, and downright cyberbullying that he experienced while his season was airing broke him from the inside. He claims he developed anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations, but he thankfully had the support of his family, then-girlfriend, as well as the show’s producers, who ensured he got therapy. The fact that he has been struggling with body dysmorphia since middle school didn’t help either, yet he was eventually able to get better, get back on his own feet, and make some drastic life changes.
Clayton and Susie sadly parted ways in September 2022, following which the former’s sole focus was self-growth as he was starting a new chapter of his life in a relatively new place by himself. After all, he had relocated from St. Louis, Missouri, to Scottsdale, Arizona, in January 2022, where he gradually found a support system and built a successful career as a licensed real estate agent. From what we can tell, it was around early 2023 when he earned his license, which was not long before he first came across entrepreneur, equestrian, podcaster, and real estate investor Laura Owens.
Clayton Echard is Currently Fighting For Justice For Himself and His Fellow Alleged Victims
It was in spring 2023 that Clayton first came across Laura Owens on LinkedIn, with her messaging him about potentially doing business together since she was looking to buy investment properties. As per the ‘Love Trapped’ podcast, she didn’t have an image or any information on her profile, but he didn’t find it strange because she seemed to know what she was talking about in real estate. The duo thus exchanged numbers, only for their conversation to turn flirty within a couple of days – he claims she initiated the flirtiness and then even sent him an almost inappropriate image.
Clayton eventually asked her to come over to his place for the night, certain she knew it was just for a one-night stand since it was 8 pm on a Friday and he made no mention of wanting more. According to his accounts, they engaged in oral sex but didn’t have intercourse, so he was shocked when she claimed to be pregnant with his unborn twins roughly a month later in May 2023. She even filed a paternity claim against the reality star, which resulted in a year of litigation before a judge ruled she faked the pregnancy to entrap him into a relationship or exploit him. Laura dropped her claim in May 2024, citing a miscarriage, but he refused to let the matter go, which is why the proceedings continued, and a civil verdict was given.
In June 2024, a judge ruled in Clayton’s favor, ordered Laura to pay him $200,000 for his attorney fees as well as legal costs, and later referred her case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. On May 6, 2025, she was arrested on four counts of perjury, one count of tampering with evidence, and one count of fraudulent schemes & artifices in connection with her case with him. Since then, it appears as if the 33-year-old realtor, public figure, motivational speaker, mental health advocate, and fitness enthusiast has been doing his best to fight for justice for not only himself but also fellow victims like him. In fact, he has actively been sharing not only his story but also others’ on his public platforms over the past couple of years and has even helped launch the Victims of Laura Owens website. From what we can tell, he is determined to testify when Laura ultimately stands trial, which is currently scheduled for late July 2026.
Read More: Where is Laura Owens Now? The Bachelor Fake Pregnancy Update
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