Just a few years ago, Will Watson and Kristin Batykefer were among the best-known influencers – until they disappeared from the internet without a trace.
A year after their abrupt disappearance from social media, Kristin, 32, has now revealed how her world came crashing down after she found out her partner of nine years had cheated on her – with a woman they had been traveling with.
In an interview with fellow influencer Kelsey, on her YouTube channel Kels And Jay, Kristin revealed what actually happened after their mysterious absence from their popular channel in July 2022.
Kristin explained that she and her now ex-husband Will, 34, had been traveling with another couple last summer when he cheated on her for the first time.
Will Watson and Kristin Batykefer, from Jacksonville, Florida, seemed to be living an idyllic life; they travel around the country in their converted bus with their daughter Roam (photo)
But what Kristin didn’t know was that Will had been having an affair behind her back for a year with a woman they met – and traveled with for three months.
“(We and the couple) were together for three months and for two and a half months, my ex-partner and the woman from that bus had an affair,” Kristin revealed in the jaw-dropping 17-minute interview.
“Then they had it behind my back for a year,” she continued. ‘After nine years of being together it was over.’
Will and Kristin, who are both originally from Jacksonville, Florida, first traded their three-bedroom rental home for life on the road in April 2019.
They sold “95 percent” of their belongings and bought a retired 1992 Air Force bus. They spent 18 months and $30,000 converting it into a mobile home before heading off on an adventure with their then two-year-old daughter Roam.
The family shared their adventures on Instagram account @numberjuanbus and in YouTube vlogs, showing cute dinners around the campfire and happy coexistence with other van travelers. However, more happened behind the scenes.
Kristin admitted there was a “nine-month period” during which she suspected her husband was cheating after finding some suspicious-looking messages — but said she was hesitant to act on them right away.
‘There was no really solid evidence and if you have a child and you’re married and you don’t have solid evidence, it makes it very difficult to say, ‘I’m leaving,'” she explained.
Although the once-public personality said she had no concrete evidence that her husband was cheating on her, she recalled knowing he was “at least” having an emotional affair.
In an interview with her friend Kelsey on YouTube, Kristin discussed why they suddenly stopped posting their travels on social media a year later.
Kristin suspected for nine months that her husband Will (pictured) was cheating on her – or at least having an emotional affair with another woman
Kristin admitted that it was difficult to decide to end her nine-year relationship, especially since she had no concrete evidence that her husband had cheated on her.
Although her ex-husband ‘begged’ her to take him back, she refused – and four months after they split, he started dating his mistress
Instead, Kristin said she took a lot of time to focus on herself while trying to save her marriage. Ultimately, she decided it was best if they parted ways.
“Ultimately, you have to ask yourself, ‘If my child were in a relationship like this, would I be happy for her? Would I be supportive, would I want her to stay in a relationship like this?'” she said.
‘And the answer at the end was: absolutely not.’
Kristin’s divorce was finalized in February and she now shares custody of Roam with Will. She has also since moved to live with friends and their children in a “mommune” in Florida.
In her podcast Let’s Grow Through It, which she co-hosts with her best friend Tessa Gilder, Kristin said she’s had to put a lot of feelings aside as she figures out how to co-parent with her ex-husband, who started dating his mistress to date. after months of trying to convince Kristin to take him back.
“Stop taking what they do in their personal lives personally,” she said.
“I started to realize that (what we were fighting about) has nothing to do with our co-parenting relationship, it just has to do with our personal relationship.
‘I no longer have a personal relationship with this man, nor do I want one. I remind myself of that every time he does something that offends me personally,” she explained.
Ultimately, Kristin decided to end the relationship because she decided she wanted to set a good example for her daughter on how to be treated by a man.
After deciding to divorce her husband, Kristin (right) moved into a house in Florida with other divorcees and their children, along with friend Tessa Gilder (left)
Kristin said she is still figuring out how to integrate her ex-husband’s mistress into her life, but she wants to set a good example for her daughter by making it amicable.
She added, “What he does in his personal life is none of my business as long as it doesn’t harm our child.”
Kristin revealed that her ex is now living with his former mistress, which she admitted she wasn’t expecting when they broke up.
“For the first, almost five months, I didn’t think the other woman would be something I had to work through,” she said. “But then he brought her back in.”
The mother of one said she also still struggles with intense sadness about the situation at times.
“The way I look at it is like it’s the death of my old life,” she explained. ‘I really loved my old life, but grieving isn’t linear, it’s top down, top down, top down.
“Some weeks I’ll be really good and then I’ll get triggered and I’ll get angry and sad, and then I’ll feel good again,” she admitted.
While Kristin says she is still working on integrating her ex-husband’s mistress into her life, she wanted to set a good example for her daughter, which convinced her to end the relationship and pursue a peaceful co-parenting arrangement. to strive.
‘Or I want my daughter to see me being treated like a queen (with) a man who loves me so much so much that he would never think of cheating on me, or I want her to see that I love myself so much that I would never wonder about being in a relationship with someone who will treat me badly,” she said.
“I want her to show up in life like that and the best way to do that is to lead by example.”