It’s OK to cry. Kaitlyn Bristowe took a break from dancing up a storm on the Dancing With the Stars Live 2022 tour to open up about her mental health struggles.
“People don’t understand how happiness and depression can exist simultaneously. I do,” the former Bachelorette, 36, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, March 5. “Swipe to see where I was at this morning, and this first pic is where I’m at hours later. Feeling good. For me.”
In the first snap, Bristowe was glammed up in her dressing room ahead of Saturday’s performance. As followers swiped through her slideshow, she added a no-makeup selfie, tears streaming down her face.
“This is what being hormonal looks like. For some, it’s circumstantial, and for others it’s an every day battle,” the Bachelor alum added in her post. “I do feel lucky to know ‘This too shall pass.’ But just want to send out a virtual hug to everyone … For anyone struggling with depression today, either lay in bed and cry, or get your butt up and do something that makes you happy. Whichever one you choose is OK ♥️♥️.”
Bristowe, who won season 29 of DWTS with partner Artem Chigvintsev, joined the pro dancers on tour across the country earlier this year.
“It is so fun feeling the energy of all the pros and dancing together, and it already feels like we’re one big family, having so much fun together,” Bristowe exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2021, teasing the rehearsal process. ”It’s such a different energy dancing with everyone. And I can’t wait for people to come watch the tour.”
She continued at the time: “I’m so excited because I think [a crowd] just changes the whole dynamic of the energy. I got to do that one Janet Jackson dance to announce that I was going on tour and just hearing people cheer in the crowd — it’s a game-changer. … There’s just gonna be a lot of different elements to this show and there’s so much jam-packed into one show that, like, you’re really gonna get your bang for your buck if you come. You’re gonna see it all, you’re gonna see everybody.”
In addition to her dance pursuits, the “Off the Vine” podcast host — who got engaged to Bachelorette alum Jason Tartick in May 2021 — has been candid about her struggles with anxiety and depression since she first appeared on the ABC reality TV show in 2015.
“I didn’t get anywhere near where I was in that really dark time [in my 20s], but I definitely struggled with depression during the show and while I was facing all that scrutiny,” Bristowe exclusively recalled to Us in May 2020. “I saw myself going down that same path, but I had the tools and the self-respect and everything to know that I was OK, and it was just an easier transition for me because I was confident in where I was at as a person.”
She added: “But I’m just, that’s not who I am. I don’t want to live my life like that, and it had been long enough and I was just so done with feeling numb because Kaitlyn Bristowe loves to feel her feelings and being numb is not doing that. It’s fine to be sad and have your moment and I really sat in my sadness, but it’s about coming out on the other side and what you do with it after.”
