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Fans of The Bachelor quickly turned on Sydney Hightower. That’s because after the episode she opened up about being bullied in high school, several photos were revealed that made them question her story. Find out what she said in response to the backlash and more.

Sydney told Peter Weber that she was bullied in high school

Sydney and Mykenna on 'The Bachelor'
Sydney and Mykenna on ‘The Bachelor’ | Eric McCandless via Getty Images

Sydney finally got her solo date with Peter Weber in “Week 5.” She revealed that high school wasn’t easy for her.

“You know being in a mixed race and growing up in Alabama I had a target on my back pretty much,” she told Weber. “The last bit of middle school and all of high school were literally the worst years of my life. Girls would like call me like oreo girl and they would call my mom names I don’t even want to repeat.”

She continued, “They would vandalize our home and write awful things on our pavement. I didn’t go to senior prom. I didn’t got to homecoming.” She said she ate lunch in bathroom stalls her whole senior year.

Fans thought she lied after photos were shared online

Many fans were suspicious of Sydney’s story. Someone posted a photo that is possibly from her yearbook. It shows her as one of the top five beauties of a beauty pageant.

One fan tweeted, “LMAOOOOO i knew Sydney’s lame a** sob story wasn’t true #TheBachelor.” Another fan posted a picture of what is supposed to be younger Sydney. The caption reads, “Thanks to my girl that went to high school with ole Sydney. Here’s a lovely pic of the Homecoming she never went to because she was so bullied. #TheBachelor.”

Sydney responded to the backlash on Twitter

The contestant decided to address the backlash on Twitter. She tweeted, “Feels ridiculous I even have to address this. But correct I did win a beauty pageant my senior year of highschool [sic.] That was voted for by 5 judges. Not by my peers. Winning a pageant based off of outer beauty does not take away the racial bullying, and isolation I’ve been through.”

Sydney then added, “I was also on the cheer team in middle school and in many clubs in highschool [sic]. You’ll do anything you can to fit in, and I tried. I won pageants because of my ‘looks’ and I was in clubs because I wanted a scholarship to get into college. Not because I was accepted by my peers.”

She then addressed more of the racism she talked about on the show. She tweeted, “Any one from my highschool [sic] want to pull out the videos of girls stuffing my locker with Oreo cookies , vandalizing my home, shoving me in the hall ways? Teachers literally referring to me as a halfbreed? Calling my mother the worst names I’ve ever heard in my life? I doubt that.”

Sydney also shared photos of direct messages with someone who went to high school with her. The person was still denying what Sydney was saying about her experience was true.

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