Melissa Rycroft is happy to provide further clarification. The former Bachelor contestant fired back at backlash stemming from a quote she shared about marriage.
“Invest in your marriage,” the quote shared by the 36-year-old on Sunday, July 21, began. “We are so willing to spend on houses, cars, and our kids’ activities. But then we skip on vacations alone with our spouse, sitters for date night, and romantic gestures. But if we are willing to put the money and time in, the return will be amazing.”
Rycroft captioned the post, “A-flippin-men.” Shortly after she shared the screenshot, however, an Instagram user criticized the message she sent.
“If only it was that simple. Time and money to invest in vacations (even mini-vacations) aren’t all it takes,” the user replied. “You need people to leave your kids with. And if one of your kids has complex medical needs … good luck. Totally agree with this idea, but not all of us are this fortunate.”
Rycroft, who married husband Tye Strickland in 2009, responded to the user, noting “it’s not just about a vacation.”
“It’s about a date night. Or a lunch date,” the former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader wrote. “Something with quality time with just you and your spouse – doesn’t matter where or for how long. Every little bit is important.”
Rycroft rose to fame after winning Jason Mesnick’s heart on season 13 of The Bachelor, which aired in 2009. During the After the Final Rose special, however, Mesnick dumped Rycroft and got back together with runner-up Molly Malaney, whom he married in 2010.
The Dancing With the Stars alum, for her part, reunited with Strickland, whom she dated before she appeared on the ABC dating series. The twosome share three kids: Ava, 8, Beckett, 5, and Cayson, 3.
Rycroft previously came under fire for calling Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala look “not natural” earlier this year.
While she was accused of body-shaming, Rycroft clarified her remarks during a discussion with Strickland on their “Logically Irrational” podcast in May.
“I was a mom, looking at a woman who has this unattainable look to her and just said, ‘I don’t want our young girls to look [at the photo] and say, I can be like that,’ when really we can’t,” Rycroft said at the time. “In the photo, she’s wearing a corseted dress. Her waist was the size of her head. Her hips were obviously the normal size of her hips, and it looked like Jessica Rabbit … I’m not saying that as a diss.”
