Less than two weeks before meeting Bachelor Joey Graziadei, season 28 contestant Lexi Young had egg retrieval surgery.
“I needed at least, like, a solid month after that to kind of recalibrate back to my normal body,” Lexi, 30, said via Instagram on Monday, February 12. “It was hard.”
Lexi, who was previously diagnosed with stage 5 endometriosis, explained she had “heavy bleeding” and “some issues with ovarian cysts” while filming The Bachelor.
“I was like, ‘Are people gonna see me and my body and judge me for the way that I look because I put on weight?’” Lexi recalled. “It’s hard to look at it and see myself, you know, swollen and puffy.”
She added, “I said, ‘I just turned 30, I froze my eggs, that is so empowering. I’m so proud of myself. If this guy doesn’t want me when I’m a little puffy and a little emotionally coming down from hormones, then that’s not someone that I want to marry.’ And I just decided to take a leap of faith and go on the show.”
Lexi continued with a message for viewers who are “watching these shows and critiquing people’s appearances,” saying, “Just remember that you never know what this person is currently going through or has gone through.”
While sharing that she “didn’t feel [herself] on national TV” and “didn’t feel like [she] looked like [herself],” Lexi said “none of that matters” when she’ll have a family one day.
“Going through egg freezing, single, at the age of 30, was the most empowering thing that I’ve done for myself and my body in my entire life,” she said. “When I look back, I would not change one thing. I now have the added security and confidence that I have eggs frozen at this very moment that will — I hope and pray — turn into embryos when I’m ready.”
Lexi added that it was “hard” going through the process by herself. She recalled a time when she walked into a fertility clinic and saw other women with their partners and she realized she was “doing this alone.”
“I never thought I’d be able to go through this alone, and knowing that I didn’t just go through it alone, but I did it successfully, and then I went on The Bachelor like less than two weeks after, I can do anything,” she said.
Lexi opened up about her endometriosis journey during Monday’s episode of the ABC reality show, where she received the week’s coveted one-on-one date with Joey, 28. After the episode aired, Lexi shared that it had been “hard to watch” after “everything [she’s] been through.”
“I knew that if I could help even one woman out there suffering from endometriosis or infertility, it would make me feel like in some small way that my pain and suffering was worth it,” she wrote via Instagram, alongside a couple snaps with Joey. “I want to thank each and every one of you for the outpouring of messages and support I have received.”
She continued, “I cannot even put into words how much it means to me to get the opportunity to share my story on this platform, but I am beyond grateful for the support of my family and friends, as well as the kindness and understanding shown to me by Joey, the producers, and @bachelorabc for allowing endometriosis, an invisible illness, to finally be seen.”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
