‘The Bachelorette’: Greg Grippo Addresses the Acting School Rumors
During Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette, it came out that one of her clear front-runners, Greg Grippo, had gone to acting school before appearing on the show. This had some fans skeptical of his true intentions. In a recent interview with former bachelor Nick Viall on his podcast, The Viall Files, Grippo talks about his past as an actor.
The Greg Grippo actor rumor that started the controversy
On June 15, The Sun published a story about Grippo’s past as an actor, according to an anonymous source.
The source said that Grippo was “absolutely lying about his career and intentions on the show. He’s always wanted to pursue an on-camera career.” They claimed that Grippo attended the acting school William Esper for two years but completely scrubbed his online presence of any hint that he’s interested in acting after getting cast on The Bachelorette.
Since then, Grippo has confirmed his time at The William Esper Studio.
Why Greg Grippo started pursuing acting
After college, Grippo found himself working in life insurance. “I was miserable,” he told Viall. So he knew he needed to make a big change. He thought something creative would suit him so he chose acting.
“I felt like there was a lot more to me,” he said. “I didn’t know where to go in life. I really didn’t. But I knew I just wanted more. I wanted to take a chance on myself and acting was always something that I wanted to see if it was for me. And I ended up finding this amazing school [The William Esper Studio].”
Grippo said attending the prestigious acting school taught him a lot about life.
“It broke down a lot of walls of mine, a lot of insecurities,” he said. “These people were incredible. They were just incredible actors and here I am, my first time stepping into this unbelievable studio just a deer in headlights.”
Grippo’s father became sick four months into his time at William Esper. So he ended up missing a lot of school. In the end, he said he realized he didn’t love acting anyway.
“I was the one that had to step up and help my mom and my dad,” he said. “I missed a ton of time. And I just didn’t love it. I hadn’t been on an audition in my life.”
Greg wanted to reach out to Katie when it came out that he’d gone to acting school
Grippo told Viall that he wasn’t concerned when it started coming out that he’d been to acting school.
“When this came out I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever,'” he said. “I have it on my page. I have the Instagram on my page. It is what it is. I haven’t been on an audition in my life.”
He said he wanted to reach out to Thurston when it first started circulating that he’d been to acting school, but he never did.
“I didn’t think it was gonna blow up like this,” he said. “And I told Katie at AFR, I really wanted to reach out to her when this was all coming out but I didn’t want to step on Blake’s toes at all. I figured that they were engaged at that moment. Blake’s an awesome guy and I just didn’t want to cross those boundaries.”
So there you have it. According to Grippo, he did, indeed, go to acting school. But, ultimately, he decided against pursuing acting as a career.
