JJ Lane Breaks His Own Rule As He Gets Serious With ‘Bachelor’ Alum Juelia Kinney

JJ Lane has clearly changed his mind regarding dating Bachelor “people.” The reality TV villain, who made headlines for his bad boy behavior during Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season of The Bachelorette as well as his antics on Season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, has been dating fellow franchise alum Juelia Kinney, according to People. Lane said that he and his lady love started out as friends and romance blossomed from there.

“What started as a tremendous friendship has grown organically and both of us are very happy and excited,” JJ said in a statement to the celebrity magazine.

JJ Lane met Juelia Kinney, a contestant on Chris Soules’ season of The Bachelor, last summer when they filmed season 2 of Paradise in Mexico. While they didn’t find love on the show, the couple kept in touch after filming wrapped. JJ Lane lives in Denver and Juelia Kinney lives in San Diego and they are both single parents to young daughters. Lane has a four-year-old daughter, Gemma, and Kinney is mom to a three-year-old little girl, Ireland.

Lane told Us Weekly that he and Juelia have been keeping their relationship under wraps because they didn’t want the Bachelor publicity to ruin it.

“Jueles and I have tried keeping it on the down-low for some time now just because of the continued scrutiny we could potentially face and the challenges with Bachelor-related relationships,” Lane said. “We’ve hinted at it, obviously, but never [made] a formal announcement, as we never really felt it was necessary, nor did we desire or crave the spotlight.”

Lane said that while it started out as casual dating, in the last two months his relationship with Kinney has gotten more serious.

“It didn’t get serious until two months ago,” Lane said.

“She’s an incredible woman and mom and one of the smartest people I have met! She puts me to shame in all aspects of the above.”

Lane also revealed that his daughter, Gemma, loves his new girlfriend.

“We all love to FaceTime. She calls her Miss Juelia,” JJ revealed.

It was just six months ago that JJ Lane told Us that he had a rule about hooking up with former members of The Bachelor franchise. As in, he refused to do it.

“I have a rule: I don’t date Bachelor people,” JJ said at the time. “It’s too incestuous.”

Still, Lane had no problem using his Bachelor fame to land ladies in the past, according to the New York Post.

“You know what’s insane, I get laid off perception,” Lane told the Post earlier this year. “People think what they see on TV [is what you’re really like].”

JJ Lane hangs out with Super Bowl-winning pros Owen Daniels and Brandon McManus of the Denver Broncos, but he seems to score off the field more than they do.

“I’ll go out with my buddies who are successful,” Lane told the Post. “Knowshon Moreno is one, Owen Daniels, Brandon McManus, Super Bowl champions, and people like, ‘JJ! Oh my gosh, can I take a picture?’ Like, sure, you can take a picture, but this guy won the Super Bowl.”

At the time, Lane also said he would consider a return to Bachelor in Paradise just to meet franchise alum Amanda Stanton (she’s now engaged to Josh Murray).

“I want to know that girl,” Lane said of Stanton.

But JJ Lane said being on a reality show provides some dating downfalls, too.

“Once you go on a TV show, it’s so hard to fall in love because nobody is genuine and it’s very hard to trust anyone,” Lane said. “I’m done, I’m retired.”

JJ Lane has clearly broken his self-imposed rule about dating Bachelor people, and if his romance with Juelia works out, it would be another successful spawn of The Bachelor spinoff, which seems to have more luck with making matches than the regular version of the ABC dating show does.

Take a look at the video below to see JJ Lane saying goodbye to Bachelor in Paradise—and, temporarily, to Juelia Kinney.

(Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for boohoo.com )