Women supporting women is what it’s all about! Ashley Iaconetti voiced her excitement for Clare Crawley in spite of the new Bachelorette’s past fling with Jared Haibon.
“Oh, we are so thrilled,” Iaconetti, 32, told Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday, March 11. “Like, we could not be more thrilled.”
Apparently, the past is in the past. “My husband asked the woman on a date and kissed her, and yet I think she is so awesome still,” the Bachelor Winter Games alum joked. “So that’s how great of a Bachelorette she’s gonna be.”
Haibon, for his part, defended his previous spark with Crawley, 38. “I mean, it was five years ago,” the 31-year-old reality star noted. “If you were to ask me five years ago, that here I am, I’d be sitting five years later married to Ashley Iaconetti while on the TV in the background Clare Crawley was just announced as the Bachelorette, like, what the hell is going on?”
The Bachelorette alum called the new leading lady a “badass,” adding: “She’s not gonna take any crap from guys.” Meanwhile, Iaconetti complimented her for being “the perfect combination of nurturing and warm and kickassery.”
Haibon and Crawley connected during season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, which aired in 2015, though their romance was short-lived. He also dated Iaconetti during the season, but the couple did not solidify their relationship until May 2018. They later tied the knot in August 2019.
Crawley was announced as the season 16 Bachelorette during the March 2 episode of Good Morning America. She will be the oldest woman to ever take on the lead role, which she believes is an asset.
“I feel like a lot of people put [age] out there as this negative thing, but for me, it just is more years under my belt, more learning and knowing what I want, what I don’t want and what I won’t settle for,” she said.
As for what she is looking for in her dream man, she hopes to find someone “who is strong, who is willing to take off the body armor, open himself up and be vulnerable.”
The Bachelorette season 16 premieres on ABC Monday, May 18, at 8 p.m. ET.
