Bachelorette alum Hannah Brown revealed on Saturday, January 23, that she’s dealing with some lingering physical injuries from Dancing With the Stars that have stopped her from being able to work out at the gym and led to her gaining some weight.
“I think this political climate and with COVID has been hard for all of us and me too,” the former pageant queen, 26, began a series of Instagram Story videos as she took a leisurely walk. “Usually when I’m struggling, dealing with my mental health, I can go to working out. Well, for the past five months, maybe almost six, I haven’t been able to work out like I used to, and … it really brought me down because I didn’t know another way. I’m either zero, 100. All in, nothing. And I definitely let it get me down. But I’m really starting to finally get that motivation back and I want to share it with you guys because I think a lot of us can relate to going a long time without working out and sometimes it feels impossible to start again.”
Brown, who described her workout mentality as “beast mode” continued, “For the first time in my life I feel like I can totally understand somebody who is out of shape and I am right there with you.”
The DWTS champ, who won the mirrorball trophy in November 2019, explained that she hadn’t shared her health struggle earlier because she didn’t know how serious her issues actually were.
“I am still going to the doctor and trying to figure it out but I think a lot of my body hurting comes from some issues that started on Dancing With the Stars and I just kept going from zero to 100 — I’m either all or nothing — and pushed it too much to where I now have, like, some issues that I am having to deal with.”
“To clarify, I have always had issues and pains but I think DWTS put additional stress on those prior injuries,” she added in a caption.
The Alabama native explained that she has been doing physical therapy “and going on some walks and bike rides, but, honestly, that’s it.”
Brown added that as someone who appeared in pageants and on TV, “people always have something to say” about “what my body looks like.”
“It has been tough,” she continued. “I’m starting to realize that more people can relate to this girl, the one who is struggling. I’m just trying to be more honest about where I’m at. I know we all start in different places so some people stress me, they like to point out that I’ve gained weight, some people say I look great but I just want to feel good and I haven’t felt good because I haven’t been able to work out the way that I feel like my body needs. So instead of being zero or 100, I’m going to learn to show up where I can be right now, whether that’s 50 percent, 60 percent, 35 percent my best; you’ve got to start somewhere.”
“My overall health is my #1 priority right now,” she added in a caption. “So I’m going to continue to do all that I can right now — be more about trying new workout methods (I’ve always been a HIT workout, high cardio balls-to-the-wall athlete), learn to adjust and listen to my body, and continue to see medical advice to hopefully get some clarity soon!”
Brown has kept a low profile over the past year. She spent part of 2020 quarantining in Florida with Bachelorette runner-up Tyler Cameron and in December she teased a new romance, sharing a photo with a mystery man.
Earlier this week, fans speculated that she is dating model Adam Woolard after a Bachelor fan account shared photos of Brown on a romantic dinner date in Nashville with her new beau.
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