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DeAnna Pappas Reveals ‘Bachelorette’ Group Text Tracked Down OGs Meredith Phillips and Jen Schefft (Exclusive)

DeAnna Pappas Reveals Bachelorette Group Text Tracked Down OGs Meredith Phillips Jen Schefft
DeAnna Pappas, Meredith Phillips and Jen Schefft. Shutterstock (3)

A strong sisterhood! The Bachelorettes of past and present keep in touch via a group text, DeAnna Pappas exclusively tells Us Weekly.

Related: Former ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette’ Leads: Where Are They Now?

“Most recently, we found Jen Schefft and Meredith [Phillips] and added them to the group chat as well,” Pappas, 38, told Us exclusively while discussing her summer survival must-haves, including Aloisia Beauty for self-care and PRI Manuka Honey for immunity building. “What I really love about this group of women is that for the most part, we are very supportive of each other and very supportive of the things that we do and the ventures that we take on. … We want to build each other up more than anything. And that’s what I’ve appreciated most about this group of women.”

Phillips and Schefft, who headlined seasons 2 and 3 of The Bachelorette, respectively, have both kept a low profile in recent years.

“I think both ladies have worked very hard to step away from the franchise and separate themselves from it, rightfully so I think Meredith had a very different experience than any of us women did. And I think, probably the same for Jen,” Pappas explained. “[The show] was very different back then. And it felt very, almost sexist to a sense. And I don’t necessarily mean that negatively. I just think that the show was in a very different place. … It is growing and changing now and even with the producers that are on the show now, I talked to some of the producers now, they are not the same people who worked on my show 12 years ago.”

Related: ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette’ Stars Who Found Lasting Love After the Show

Pappas, who appeared on season 11 of The Bachelor, was named the season 4 Bachelorette when the show returned for a three-year hiatus in 2008. She told Us that even though Clare Crawley’s upcoming season of the show was postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic, she has already been added to the group text.

“I just love that she is a woman through and through. … She’s a woman’s woman, you know, we added her to our Bachelorette group recently,” Pappas told Us. “And it has been a pleasure to add Clare to the group because we have been able to show her that this is such a small percentage of women that she is now a part of, but more than anything that we all genuinely love each other. And we really just want to build each other up with all that we do and everybody’s been really great to Clare and offering her advice and supporting her.”

While Pappas’ engagement to season 11 winner Jesse Csincsak didn’t last, she subsequently found love with Stephen Stagliano. The duo, who wed in 2012, share daughter Addison, 6, and son Austin, 4.

“I really felt like for the first three months, I genuinely loved being home. … [But now] I’m just trying to figure how I’m gonna survive summer,” Pappas quipped to Us. “They are constantly asking me for snacks. Every time I turn around. … I’m the chef around here. I am making seven meals a day for these kids. So I’m trying to really figure out what keeps them on a healthy track without feeding them a bunch of crap. So I am just loving the Manuka Honey sticks, because I can give these to the kids, they’re not full of a ton of calories.”

Pappas added that the pandemic has helped her learn not to sweat the small stuff.

Related: Former ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette’ Winners: Where Are They Now?

“You just have to let things go and we’re stuck under one roof and their kids and they’re going to make mistakes and they’re going to spill things so I think it’s been a good lesson for me,” she explained, noting that she still tries to find time for self-care. “[Recently] my mother and father-in-law finally offered to have our kids come over and slumber party at their house. And I rushed over to drop my kids off. And then I rushed back home and I literally put on one of my face masks, sat in the tub, drank wine, and watched an episode of Outlander in the bathtub for like an hour!”

For more from Pappas, tune into Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast, which releases new episodes every Tuesday.

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