Former ‘Bachelorette’ Ali Fedotowsky Explains Why She ‘Wouldn’t Encourage’ Her Daughter to Be a ‘Bachelorette’ Someday
Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky said the reality TV lineage will likely end with her, and wouldn’t want to see daughter Molly on The Bachelorette someday.
Fedotowsky recently told Showbiz Cheat Sheet the franchise, but also the world of social media has changed significantly since she was on the show. In the past, she would have supported her child, currently 6 years old, to join a show like The Bachelorette. But now, the show is definitely off-limits. Why?
Ali shares why she wouldn’t encourage her daughter to appear on ‘The Bachelorette’
Fedotowsky used to think the show would be a good opportunity for her daughter in the future. “People would ask me, would you let your daughter be the Bachelorette?” she said. “I was like, yes, oh my gosh, it changed my life. Like, of course, I would.”
But she’s seen the shift in social media and the nastiness and heat cast members get online. “And now that I’m older, and especially now that social media has changed so much … I obviously can’t control her, she’d be an adult. She can make her own decision, but I wouldn’t encourage it,” she said. “I would talk to her about it. Highly suggest not to just because of the social media scrutiny and the forums. It’s so much worse now than when I was on it. So it is a different ballgame now.”
Social media has changed ‘The Bachelorette’
She said social media has changed everything on the show and feels for current casts. “Gabby [Recchia] and Rachel [Windey], the two current Bachelorettes, I feel so bad for them,” she said. “Because not only do you have the insecurity of trying to find love on national TV and millions of people watching you and picking apart your every move, but now they’re watching you juxtaposition of another woman. And comparing you all season long.”
“Social media has completely changed the show,” she added. “It changed the show from people that go on the show to be social media influencers. Whereas when I was on the show, Instagram didn’t even exist. Like my first post on Instagram was actually after the show.”
“But now things are so different. And not only do people go on the show for influencer status and Instagram fame, but now Instagram is a social media dictate,” she added. “So much like if I was on the show now, I’d be constantly thinking what people are going to say about me on social media. Whereas when I did the show 12 years ago, I wasn’t thinking that at all. I was just wanting to find love. I didn’t even really think about the fact that cameras were there watching me. But people need to think about that now.”
But she still thinks you can find love on TV
While the show may not be Fedotowsky’s daughter’s future, she still has a lot of love for The Bachelorette. After all… she credits the show for how she met her husband. She got engaged to Roberto Martinez on The Bachelorette Season 6 but they split 18 months later. Fedotowsky said she and Martinez had different interests and no common ground.
She went on to meet husband Kevin Manno on the set of NBC’s First Look. The couple married in 2017. So Fedotowsky still thinks it’s possible to find love on TV.
“I met my husband on a television show,” she said. “So I always joke like, of course, you can find love on TV, I met my husband on a TV show! But I feel like once my husband and I started dating, I knew after our first date that I wanted to marry him. When you meet the right person, you know. So, yes, I think it’s possible 100%. But the right person has to be there.”
