History in the making! The Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay revealed in a new interview that men of color stick around longer on her season than in years past.
“I am fortunate, if you see the first episode, to have a very diverse cast,” Lindsay, who is the first black lead in the 33 combined seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, May 29. “So you will see more diversity go a longer way through my journey, but that’s just because of the group of men that was coming out of the limo.”
Before the Dallas attorney, 31, filmed season 13, she was faced with pressure from Bachelor Nation, particularly the African-American community, to choose a black man as her future husband. She decided not to let that affect her time at the mansion.
“It was something that I wanted to get over before I entered my own season,” she explained to the outlet. “I was just like, ‘You know what? This is for me.’ I’m not choosing a man for anyone else. I have to be selfish. I have to do what’s best for me. I’m the one who has to love and spend the rest of my life with this person, if I’m lucky to find that one. I couldn’t get caught up in picking a certain man to please a certain community. Race didn’t play in as a factor when it came to choosing men along the way. In my final decision, I just went with my heart and the person I found my forever with.”
Lindsay recently confirmed to Us Weekly that she is engaged to one of her suitors.
The Bachelorette airs on ABC on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
