Katie Thurston is getting very close to picking a husband on the latest season of The Bachelorette.
Before she does so, however… before she breaks a couple more hearts and settles on the man she hopes will one day serve as the father of her child…
The Bachelorette is winding to a close, and The Bachelorette Spoilers tell us where all of this is heading.
But you don’t need insider info to know that Katie Thurston is upfront about her life, especially when it could help others.
Recently, she took to social media to discuss her lumpectomy, even showing followers her scar.
The procedure happened years ago, but she’s stressing the importance of advocating for your own health.
During the final week of July, Katie Thurston used her Instagram Story to open up to followers.
“I often get questions about my scar,” she acknowledged.
Katie explained that “It’s from a lumpectomy after finding a lump in my breast.”
She goes on to explain that this happened a decade ago — which makes it an unusual story.
“Because I was only 20,” Katie reflected, “I discovered this on my own.”
“Typically,” she added, “women don’t get routine mammogram suntil their 40s.”
“So,” Katie reasoned, “it’s important to be your biggest advocate.”
She stressed that this is vital “when it comes to your own personal health.”
Screenings happen based upon statistics, but cancer can happen to anyone at any age.
A lumpectomy is designed to remove a small amount of the breast, including a lump and some surrounding tissue.
The tissue will be analyzed in a pathology lab to see how dangerous it was, and whether more tissue needs to be removed.
It can lead to a clean bill of health … or a patient may be told that they should consider a mastectomy. Katie did well to catch it early.
Katie also pointed to the L4 Project.
This company, founded by Michael Allio and dedicated to his late wife, Laura, is very on-topic.
Per the site, they aim “to ensure that individuals and families battling cancer are surrounded by a support network that allows them to focus on treatment, recovery, and living joyous lives.”
Katie is absolutely right, of course.
Checking yourself for cancer — from lumps in breasts or testicles to keeping an eye on moles — is vital.
The key to fighting cancer is to catch it as early as possible, and some forms can be detected.
It is of course no surprise to hear Katie using her platform for good.
Part of her role on the show, even as a contestant but especially as Bachelorette, has been her doing so.
Her vital message of sex positivity is one that, frankly, a lot of people could stand to hear.
Some members of the Bachelor Nation have admitted that they’d never heard the term before.
In fact, some still seem unclear on its meaning after an entire season.
That’s fair — the show is entertainment, and does not serve as a very effective educational tool.
Someone who is sex positive makes their own sexual choices and allows others to make theirs.
They don’t attach weird moral judgments or assign personal value according to what other people do with their bodies.
They also don’t imagine that someone’s personal value magically decreases because of a sexual choice.
Sex positivity also involves promoting education on the topic of sex, sexuality, and consent.
This is an objectively good cause that aims to make the world a better and more accepting place.
Whether someone wants a monogamous marriage, nonstop orgies, or no sex whatsoever, that’s a personal choice with no moral significance.
The opposite of this is sex negative — something that viewers witnessed with Luke P’s toxic display of hostility after Hannah Brown f–ked in a windmill.
Whether it’s social or medical awareness, Katie is using her platform for good things.
Good for her.
Recently, Clare Crawley opened up to the Bachelor Nation about the serious medical issues related to her implants.
Many who have received breast implants have experienced side effects like hers and had them removed.
Clare is doing the same, but now explaining why this is an especially emotional decision for her.
For the first time, Clare is revealing that she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, a trauma that harmed her self-esteem for many years.
Clare took to her Instagram captions to explain the specific history of why she received implants in the first place.
“Self love is the act of giving a voice to your truth,” she began.
“So,” Clare pronounced, “here is mine.”
“As a child of sexual abuse,” Clare stated, revealing this horror from her childhood.
She explained that “my young adult years were spent in unhealthy relationships.”
Clare added that she spent too many years “feeling unworthy of the good ones.”
“It was a vicious cycle,” Clare explained of her romantic misadventures as an adult.
It was a cyle “because the more I chose the wrong men who treated me poorly.”
Clare continued: “the more I believed I wasn’t good enough.”
“Enter the breast implants,” Clare explained.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to get them,” she admitted.
There is of course nothing wrong with cosmetic enhancements … but they are not a substitute for mental health.
“But the truth is it was money that would have been better spent on therapy,” Clare wrote.
She could have really used this therapy “to heal my wounded heart.”
“I ended up spending the money on therapy anyway,” Clare added.
“Cut to now,” Clare continued.
“A woman who has learned to love herself deeply on the inside,” she described herself.
Clare affirmed that she is now a woman who fully “knows her worth, and will fight for herself no matter what.”
“I’ve learned the toxicity that these implants can cause on our bodies,” Clare noted.
She acknowledged “as it has done to mine.”
“So I am stepping away from something that no longer serves me…” Clare wrote.
“Not my heart,” lClare remarked, “and certainly not my health.”
“Surgery is this week!” she declared with some degree of excitement.
“We are taking it back to Clare 1.0,” she concluded, “who is lovable and worthy just the way she is.”
Childhood trauma in various forms can lead to lifelong struggles with self-worth, mental health, emotional well-being, and even physical problems.
When the abuse is physical and especially sexual in nature, these lifelong struggles often center upon the body.
From defensive eating patterns to discomfort being touched to, in Clare’s case, feeling unworthy as she is and wanting to make changes to elicit feelings of self-worth.
Clare is now in a long-term relationship, having recently celebrated one year with Dale Moss.
Obviously, their romance has had ups and downs and twists and turns along the way.
But only they get to decide what does and does not “count” for their anniversary.
A healthy adult relationship is not a magical cure for childhood trauma or self image struggles.
But then, neither are breast implants.
In either case, it can serve to make life a little better … unless it turns toxic.
Time, therapy, and work are required to process the trauma from childhood sexual abuse.
Clare might always wonder what her life might be like had she not been a victim as a child. She will never know.
Our hearts go out to her and to other CSA survivors. It took tremendous courage for Clare to share this part of herself.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
Following this week’s episode of The Bachelorette, Katie Thurston is down to three suitors.
Also following this week’s episode of The Bachelorette, viewers are pretty certain they’re down to two.
Which is to say:
Two suitors from Thurston’s sea…
The countdown is officially on.
Michelle Young, a 27-year-old teacher from Edina, Minnesota, was announced as the season 18 Bachelorette at The Bachelor season 25 After the Final Rose special in March 2021.
She’s has to wait longer than usual for time to shine, too, as ABC confirmed Katie Thurston as the season 17 Bachelorette at this same taping.
In October, however, Young will take center stage.
She won’t be alone, however.
ABC has unveiled the 18 suitors who will battle for Young’s affections this fall, as each tries to come across as the perfect combination of confident and cocky; vulnerable and tough; loving and lovable.
Reads Young’s network bio:
“As a partner, she describes herself as loyal, compassionate and supportive, and shows love through acts of service. Her dream man is confident but not cocky and will look at her as his equal in all things.”
Will any of the following met meen that critera?
Get to know the impending contestants below…
G-R-I-P-P-O, Greg Grippo has got to go!
According to a bombshell new report in The Sun, a certain segment of The Bachelorette viewers around the nation may not be chanting this exact mantra.
But they might as well be.
Because it’s becoming more…
Clare Crawley has invited the public into her love life several times by appearing on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and The Bachelor Winter Games.
But now, she’s speaking out on an issue that she never addressed during any of her televised dates….
No one ever said that searching for true love in front of many television cameras, producers and boom mics was going to be easy.
Katie Thurston learned this lesson the hard way on Monday night.
She opened the latest episode of The Bachelorette by…
Famously, Kaitlyn Bristowe has been co-hosting The Bachelorette this season.
Unfortunately, one of the results of this has been cruel comments as viewers scrutinize her appearance.
These are not “thought crimes,” but actual statements posted very publicly and viciously on social media.
Kaitlyn’s fiance, Jason Tartick, has something to say about it — and he isn’t mincing words.
On Thursday, July 15, Jason made an appearance on the Click Bait With Bachelor Nation podcast.
“I don’t know why people think it’s OK to say the s–t they do on Twitter,” he expressed.
In this moment, Jason speaks for all of us.
“The way that people make comments, nasty comments, about people’s appearances,” Jason lamented.
“And obviously, specifically, I’m referring to Kaitlyn,” he emphasized.
“It’s grotesque,” Jason commented. “It’s a joke.”
“I don’t see why people have to do that,” Jason admitted.
“And the other thing is, the fact that it’s usually women putting other women down is just insane,” he observed.
Internalized misogyny is sadly all but inevitable in a culture polluted with patriarchal values.
“When Chris Harrison was up there, were people talking about Chris Harrison’s looks?” Jason asked.
More vaguely, he added: “Or when a guy’s up there?”
Jason is making some very real points here.
While a man would likely receive less hate — or, if he were a man of color or LGBTQ+, a different kind of hate.
But the Chris Harrison example brings up an interesting point.
It may be that at least some of the hate directed at Kaitlyn (and Tayshia) is vented frustrations from Chris’ bitter stans.
“There [are] so many things in this world we can control,” Jason acknowledged.
“And,” he continued, “there [are] so many things we can’t control.”
“Our looks and things like that are most of the things we can’t control,” Jason pointed out.
“With the bad comes good,” Jason fully acknowledged.
“But,” he continued, “when you see some of the bad, and you’re just like, ‘Oh, she’s aged.'”
Not mincing words, Jason stated the obvious: “Well, yeah, we all f–king age.”
“People see it,” Jason commented.
He continued: “people hear it and they feel it.”
“And whether they show it or not,” Jason declared, “it’s gotta end.”
Jason even acknowledged that the cruel comments have had an impact upon his fiancee.
Kaitlyn of course cannot help to see at least some of it.
It’s hard to see vicious hate and critiques of your actual human face without some of it sinking in.
As we noted, and as Jason hinted, at least some of the hated directed at Kaitlyn and Tayshia has nothing to do with them.
There is a vocal minority of the fandom that is fuming and raging over Chris Harrison’s departure from the series.
When your reality series caters to white supremacists for dozens of seasons, some of the fans won’t be shy about their views.
Chris wasn’t just dismissive of Rachel Lindsay or of Rachael Kirkconnell’s scandal — he said things in that discussion that no decent person would.
His departure isn’t just the departure of a host; it’s a symbol of actual accountability and change.
Those who find white supremacy to be comfortable will resent any change, symbolic or actual. That includes Kaitlyn and Tayshia.
From the moment he hopped out of the limo dressed as a cat, Connor Brennan became an instant fan favorite on Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette.
He and Katie hit off from the very start, and for most of the season, he was considered a fron…
You won’t believe this, readers.
But it’s true:
Katie Thurston expressed both concern and excitement on Monday night — because she said she has feelings for more than one suitor!
This has never happened before in the history of The Bachelorett…
Are they in?
Or will they be out?
This is the question that’s been floating around Bachelor Nation of late when it comes to an unprecedented step in The Bachelorette history:
A second season in the same calendar year.
As loyal viewers lik…
If you watched Claire Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette, then the name Blake Moynes should already be familiar to you.
Blake was the burly Canadian who wore his heart on his sleeve and bore more than a passing resemblance to Wreck-It Ralph.
Mi…
Over the course of her run as a contestant on The Bachelor now as the lead on The Bachelorette, Katie Thurston has proven that she can dish it out.
Now it must be asked, however:
Can she also take it?
The opinionated reality star found hers…
At last, Bachelor Nation.
It’s taken a bit longer than it has in the past, but Reality Steve has finally come through with The Bachelorette spoiler we’ve all been waiting for.
Oh, yes, readers.
We now know the identiity of Katie Thurston’s fina…
Grimly, the conspicuously lower ratings during Rachel Lindsay’s season of The Bachelorette were just a portent of things to come.
In the past few years, Rachel has been insulted, targeted by hate campaigns, and blamed for all that is wrong with the world.
Why? Because she is a Black woman and willing to actually discuss systemic and individual racism that infects the Bachelor Nation.
Rachel knows that not all fans are vicious racists. But as for the others … she has a nickname for that crowd.
Rachel Linday opened up in an op-ed for New York Magazine about her unique and at times harrowing experiences.
While the magazine unfortunately selected an unbecoming title, Rachel’s words are still illuminating.
Among many other topics, she delved into why she stepped back from the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast lst month.
Rachel recalled how she had made that decision after being “exhausted from defending myself against a toxic fandom.”
The fandom, she acknowledged, “had always had a complicated relationship” with her.
But fueled by racism and resistance to positive change, the hatedom opted to “turn against” her.
The turning point was the infamous interview in which Chris Harrison repeatedly spoke over her.
That was the interview in which he dismissed accusations of racism and unironically called Rachael Kirkconnell’s critics a “woke mob.”
Good people, simply put, would not use such a term sincerely. It was a “hot mic” moment for Chris and his image.
“The franchise has spent 19 years cultivating a toxic audience,” Rachel correctly observed.
“They have constantly given it a product it wants: a midwestern/southern white, blonde, light-eyed Christian,” she pointed out.
That is precisely the image cultivated by the franchise.
12 seasons without a Black bachelorette. 24 seasons without a Black bachelor.
At some point, the lack of diversity on the franchise stopped being an oversight and became a conscious choice for production.
In that time, the show attracted an audience where the disproportionate whiteness was a selling point.
“Not all viewers are like that,” Rachel emphasized.
“My Higher Learning co-host and I have divided it,” she explained, in terms of how one can view the fandom.
Rachel detailed: “There is a Bachelor Nation, and there is a Bachelor Klan.”
“Bachelor Klan is hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic,” Rachel accurately characterized.
“They are afraid of change,” she went on. “They are afraid to be uncomfortable.”
Rachel added: “They are afraid when they get called out.”
Rachel recalled how, despite initial misgivings, she decided to accept the leading lady role.
“How many people haven’t seen a positive representation of a Black woman,” she reasoned after a heartfelt conversation.
She had the chance to be seen as “someone who has the chance to be adored by men of all races, backgrounds, professions?”
“I thought maybe the moment was bigger than me,” Rachel concluded.
Even when she was on the show, she noted how she feared being seen “as an angry Black female.”
That of course is a pernicious stereotype often applied to Black women. It’s a form of misogynoir.
However, Rachel was quick to note that there were times when production protected her.
Embarrassing moments, she noted, like when she was drunk, but producers declined to film her at those low moments.
“They could have taken those clips and depicted me as a wild Jezebel,” Rachel acknowledged.
“Nick said he did not want to sleep with any women because he had been so sexualized on Bachelor in Paradise,” Rachel shared.
“We didn’t get there, anyway. I blacked out,” she disclosed.
“Nick gave me Tylenol and carried me up the stairs. I never even made it into the Mrs. Claus outfit,” Rachel detailed.
However, that did not mean that she did not feel “exploited” during her Hometown date with Peter Kraus.
Peter was always a fan-favorite on her season, a hottie who seemed like the total package.
For the first time, Rachel is truly opening up about what made her realize that she couldn’t see herself with him.
Production set up Rachel to meet friends of Peter’s, including two Black men and two white women.
“They separated us – Peter got to talk to his homeboys, and I was with the women,” she shared.
These were women “who talked about having ‘mixed babies’ and what it was like to be an interracial couple.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” Rachel recalled. “I’m Black. I have interracial couples in my family.”
She noted: “I’m old enough to understand what I’m entering into and the difficulties that come with it. I felt exploited.”
“If anything, that situation turned me off of Peter because I couldn’t see myself hanging out with them,” Rachel shared.
“They were nice, but it was so contrived,” Rachel explained.
“The producers really thought, How great! All these mixed couples can come together,” she noted.
Rachel understood: “They were only looking at the optics of the situation.”
Unfortunately, Rachel’s op-ed was given the headline of “Oops, I Blew Up The Bachelor.”
Rachel took to Instagram to share that these were “not my words nor are they a reflection of how I feel.”
Despite her disappointment, Rachel wrote: “My truth and my thoughts are told on the inside of the magazine which I am very proud of and hope you all read.”
