The lead up to Hannah Brown’s proposal to Adam Woolard included a “full-on mental breakdown” from the former Bachelorette star.
Brown had a “what is love?” breakdown, she explained while appearing on the Tuesday, November 7, episode of the “LadyGang” podcast. Initially, the former Bachelorette star told hosts Keltie Knight, Becca Tobin and Jac Vanek that she was “triggered” after spending a day with her parents.
Then, the following day, Woolard revealed his plans to propose but wanted to ensure that Brown would be OK with it.
“I was like, ‘Why would you freaking tell me?’,” she said. “That night I had the full-on mental breakdown.”
After their conversation, Brown recalled emailing her therapist with a subject line that read: “URGENT. I NEED COUNSEL.” She went to therapy the following day.
While Brown expected the proposal to go a certain way because Woolard had spilled the beans, he was actually able to pull off the surprise.
Brown was first romantically linked to Woolard in January 2021 when they were spotted on various outings together. They made their relationship Instagram official the following month. In May 2022, they moved in together and Woolard proposed this past August.
On the day he popped the question, Brown believed that the couple was supposed to attend a party for their friends who had recently had a baby. However, it was all a ruse to cover up Woolard’s proposal.
“I just believed it. Honestly, he could have had the ring laying out on the kitchen table and, at that point, I was so in my own head, I would have never noticed,” Brown said on Tuesday’s podcast. “That’s now I was at that time. It was beautiful and he was so sweet, but that wasn’t the best of me. That was hard.”
Previously, Brown told Us Weekly exclusively that she was “a little bit nervous” about revealing her engagement story publicly.
“I kind of felt like, ‘Oh, my gosh, are people going to judge our relationship because it wasn’t this smooth, fairy tale thing?’ And that’s what everybody seems to look like on social media when you see these posts,” Brown explained to Us in September. “But it’s been so cool to be able to see the messages that I’m getting of, ‘This is how people actually feel.’ Most people who have gotten engaged are, like, not fully the way it always looks. There is some fear [and] there is some anxiety that goes on.”
Brown had shared on a September episode of her “Better Tomorrow” that she endured a “panic attack” ahead of Woolard’s proposal — and it all stemmed from the fact that her therapist had advised her not to make any “big decisions” in life.
“There was a lot of weight on it, I guess, in some way because I’ve rushed into an engagement before. It didn’t go well,” Brown exclusively told Us, referring to her time as the Bachelorette and prior engagement to Jed Wyatt. “So, this is exciting, and I’m very blessed to have Adam as someone who just is my cheerleader and wants to do life with me.”
