Yes, Hannah B. has seen the Susie comparisons. Hannah Brown joined Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast and revealed why she started keeping up with Bachelor Nation again.
“I think this is the first season that I was detached completely. There was no relation in any way to me for the first time,” the 27-year-old former Bachelorette exclusively told Us, referring to her ex Peter Weber and friend Matt James’ stints as the Bachelor. “Michelle [Young] and Katie [Thurston] were from Matt’s season. And then before that, there was all — in some way I was connected. So this was the first time I felt like I could kind of watch in a way that felt a lot more removed from everything.”
For Hannah, who is promoting God Bless This Messy Journal, out April 12, it’s also easier to watch The Bachelor vs. The Bachelorette.
“Watching The Bachelor, I can reminisce … it really was such a fun experience me with not as much pressure in any way,” she explained, noting that she watched Clayton Echard’s season with boyfriend Adam Woolard. “That was his first time to watch the show too. He watched a few episodes of Matt’s — but [Clayton’s] was fun to watch.”
As the latest season of the ABC show aired, many fans drew comparisons between Hannah and contestant Susie Evans.
“There were moments [when] I was like, ‘Oh wow, this [girl], she looks a lot like me.’ Adam and I definitely saw it and I think she’s beautiful,” the God Bless This Mess author told Us. “It was a compliment, for sure. She’s probably one of the people that I feel like has looked the most like me that people have compared me to from the show.”
Though it wasn’t easy, the 28-year-old Missouri native ended up finding love with the 29-year-old wedding videographer after he came under fire for sleeping with (and saying he loved) finalists Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.
“I was definitely shocked. I did not any of that coming. But look, everybody wants the people on the show to be happy and were there some unfortunate moments? Absolutely. And do I feel like, you know, things could have been handled better? Yeah, of course,” Hannah told Us of Clayton’s ending. “But I think with so many people having different opinions, nobody really knows what happened and why things were handled the way they were. And so I just really try to give people grace on that show because I know that it needs to be given and there’s a lot of opinions going around and it seems like Clayton and Susie are really happy.”
When it comes to navigating fantasy suites, Hannah encourages leads to trust themselves and “know that you’re probably gonna make some mistakes.”
“The viewer is watching a human having these human interactions, which means that they’re not gonna do everything perfect[ly],” she continued. “They’re gonna make mistakes in a very unnatural situation, which is what makes it, I think, so entertaining and why you see people do these things that seem so extreme because it is a pressure cooker of a human experience.”
In the years following her journeys on the show, Hannah won Dancing With the Stars, released a New York Times bestseller and is following up the memoir with a journal companion.
“In the book, I talk a lot about how journaling was really an outlet that I had to kind of process everything that I had been through, everything that I was going through and really a source of healing for me,” she told Us. “So, I just thought it made sense for me that after I shared my story, to be able to share my way of how I’ve been able to grow from all that — and a lot of that has been through writing it all out. I’m really proud of what it came out to be. And I’m excited to see other people kind of go on their own journey to healing through journaling.”