One year after Hannah Brown accepted a proposal from Jed Wyatt on The Bachelorette, the former Bachelorette star admitted she had doubts.
In a lengthy Instagram post shared on Monday, May 11, exactly one year after her engagement anniversary date, Brown reflected on the moment – and how their relationship fell apart shortly after. As Bachelor Nation fans may remember, Brown picked Wyatt over Tyler Cameron and Peter Weber, but later called the engagement off after it was revealed that her fiancé allegedly had a girlfriend when he came on the show.
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“Ever look back on a memory and it feels like just yesterday… but also like a different life? Me too. Exactly a year ago today,” Brown captioned a photo of herself alone at the proposal site in Greece.
“I remember that day. I don’t like staying there for too long, but I remember it really well,” she continued. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this has all the makings to be the best day of my life…but gah, it doesn’t feel like I thought it would.’ I didn’t have words (or maybe I just didn’t have the courage to say them?) but the pit in my stomach was screaming, ‘this ain’t it’ (funny how sometimes it’s the people around you that help you articulate your feelings better than you can).”
“I could fake a smile but I couldn’t shake the doubt, and looking back, I know why,” she revealed. “That ending was not easy, but it was necessary to get me here.”
Despite the heartbreak she endured, the reality star viewed the experience as an important part of her journey in life.
“If I could go back and tell her something, I would whisper, ‘It’s going to be ok. You’re right, this ain’t it, but it’s the direction. So open up your hands, and let go of the control. Trust this process, it’s going to be worth it. Also, nice butt!'” Brown wrote. “If you are reading this right now, wondering how to navigate a situation that feels so painful and so not what you wanted, maybe you’ll let me tell you what I would’ve told myself: Hold on. Keep moving. You’re going to make it. This ain’t it but what’s coming is so much better.”
“Sometimes you’ve gotta walk through the shadows to stand in the sun,” she added. “And trust me, you’ll really appreciate the way it feels shining down on you, too.”
Just a few months ago, fans began to speculate that Brown had rekindled things with her ex Cameron after she temporarily moved in with him in Florida amid the ongoing public health situation. However, neither of them have publicly confirmed the nature of their relationship at this time. Since then, Brown has returned to her home state of Alabama and is continuing to social distance with her family.
During an Instagram Live last week, Brown revealed that while she’s currently “single,” she feels that she is ready to start dating again.
“I definitely want to be in a relationship,” she said at the time. “I think I’m finally getting to the point where I could say that I could do that, at this point in my life. I think I needed a little break and definitely took that. But I’m going to be single until it’s right. I don’t just like, date around really. I date seriously, you know?”
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