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Just a couple of years ago, Will Watson and Kristin Batykefer were among the most well-known ‘van influencers’ – until they vanished without a trace from the internet.
A year on from their abrupt disappearance from social media, Kristin, 32, has now revealed how her world crumbled after she found out her partner of nine years had been cheating on her – with a woman they had been traveling with.
In an interview with fellow van influencer Kelsey, on her YouTube channel Kels And Jay, Kristin divulged what actually took place following 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 over the summer last year when he first cheated on her.
Will Watson and Kristin Batykefer, from Jacksonville, Florida, seemed to have an idyllic life; traveling the country in their converted bus with their daughter Roam (pictured)
However, little did Kristin know, Will had been having an affair for a year behind her back with a woman they met – and traveled with – for three months
‘[We and the couple] were together for three months and two-and-a-half of the months, my ex-partner and the wife of that bus had an affair,’ Kristin revealed in the jaw-dropping 17-minute interview.
‘Then they had it for a year behind my back,’ she continued. ‘After nine years of being together it was over.’
Will and Kristin, who are both originally from Jacksonville, Florida, first swapped their their three-bedroom rental home for a life on the road in April 2019.
They sold ’95 per cent’ of their belongings and purchased a 1992 retired Air Force bus, spending 18 months and $30,000 converting it into a mobile home, before setting off on their adventures with their then two-year-old daughter, Roam.
The family shared their adventures on Instagram account @numberjuanbus and in YouTube vlogs, showing adorable dinners around the campfire and happy cohabitating with other van travelers. However, there was more going on behind the scenes.
Kristin admitted there was a ‘nine-month period’ where she suspected her husband was cheating, after finding some suspicious looking messages – but said she was hesitant to act on it right away.
‘There was no actual solid evidence and when you have a child and you’re married and you don’t have solid evidence it’s really hard to be like “I’m gonna leave” because of this,’ she explained.
Even though the once public personality said she didn’t have concrete proof her husband was cheating on her, she recalled knowing he was ‘at least’ having an emotional affair.
In an interview with her friend Kelsey posted to YouTube, Kristin discussed why they suddenly stopped posting about their travels to social media, a year on
Kristin suspected for nine months her husband Will (pictured) was cheating on her – or at least having an emotional affair with another woman
Kristin admitted it was hard deciding to end her nine-year-long relationship, especially as she didn’t have concrete proof her husband had been cheating on her
Although her ex-husband ‘begged’ her to take him back, she refused – and he started dating his mistress four months after they split up
Instead, Kristin said she took a lot of time to focus on herself, while trying to save her marriage. In the end, she decided it was best if they separated.
‘Eventually you have to ask yourself, “if my child was in a relationship like this would I be happy for her? Would I support it would I want her to stay in a relationship like this?”‘ she said.
‘And the answer at the end of was just absolutely not.’
Kristin’s divorce was finalized in February and she now splits custody of Roam with Will. She has also since moved to live in a ‘mommune’ in Florida with friends and their children.
In her podcast, Let’s Grow Through It, which she hosts with best friend Tessa Gilder, Kristin said she has had to put a lot of feelings aside while she works out how to co-parent with her ex-husband – who started dating his mistress after spending months trying to convince Kristin to take him back.
‘Stop taking what they do in their personal life personally,’ she said.
‘I started to realize that [what we were fighting about] has nothing to do with our co-parenting relationship, it only has to do with out personal relationship.
‘I don’t have – nor do I want – a personal relationship with this man any more. I’m reminding myself of that every time he does something that personally offends me,’ she explained.
In the end, Kristin decided to end the relationship, deciding she wanted to set a good example for her daughter in how she should be treated by a man
After deciding to separate from her husband, Kristin (right) moved into a house in Florida with other divorced women and their children, along with friend Tessa Gilder (left)
Kristin said she’s still working out how to integrate her ex-husband’s mistress into her life, but 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’s not harming our child.’
Kristin revealed that her ex is now living with his former mistress, which she admitted, was not something she expected when they separated.
‘For the first, almost five months, I didn’t think the other woman was going to be something I had to work through,’ she said. ‘But then he brought her back in.’
The mom-of-one said she also still battles with intense grief over the situation sometimes.
‘The way I like to look at it is like it’s a death of my old life,’ she explained. ‘I loved my old life I really did, [but] grieving isn’t linear, it’s up down, up down, up 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 fine again,’ she admitted.
While the Kristin says she’s still working through how to integrate her ex-husband’s mistress into her life, she wanted to set a good example for her daughter, which is what convinced her to end the relationship and pursue a peaceful co-parenting arrangement.
‘I either want my daughter to see me being treated like a queen [with] a man who loves me so much that he would never even think about cheating on me or I want her to see me loving myself so much that I would never even question if I would be in a relationship with someone who’s going to mistreat me,’ she said.
‘I want her to show up in life like that and the best way to do that is lead by example.’
