November 11, 2020 • bachelor insider
Tayshia Opens Up About Her Initial Apprehension Over 'Bachelorette' Role
Tayshia Adam’s journey as the new Season 16 Bachelorette has officially begun, but she landed the role in a manner unlike any of her predecessors.
Tayshia joined the season after Clare Crawley found love with Dale Moss, which meant Tayshia kept this gargantuan secret about being the Bachelorette mostly confined to herself and her family. She opened up to Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin on a new episode of "Bachelor Happy Hour" about her initial reaction to that fateful phone call from an executive producer asking her to come to La Quinta Resort and be a part of the season.
The 30-year-old began the story by sharing a conversation she had with her best friend that morning.
She said, "I was like, 'Screw it. I’m over this year. I’m over quarantining. I’m over everything. I have nothing tying me down. I’m literally going to go to John Wayne Airport tomorrow and get the first flight out to anywhere because I can. No one can stop me. I’m just over everything.'"
She proceeded to order some doughnuts on Postmates "straight to my bed." As she sat in bed reading, her phone rang.
"Every time I see that name pop up on my phone, I’m like, 'Oh, God. Here we go,'" she explained. "It’s never anything good. He called and I knew something was up. He calls to check in, but usually there’s something."
Tayshia continued, "He started out this conversation as, 'I know we had this conversation last time and you said I cannot bring this up over the phone, I have to do it in person,' and as soon as he said that, I knew what he was about to ask me. After my last 'Bachelorette' interview before Clare was announced, I was doing my own thing. I was happy. I was in my own world. I was living my life."
The new Bachelorette said the phone call "uprooted me."
She said, "It put my life on hold. You can’t make plans, decisions, anything, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. It messed with me quite a bit, actually."
Tayshia added, "I told him, 'That’s not fair to me. I know there’s other girls in the conversation, but I was fine. Next time you do it, you better come to my house and tell me in person because at this point, I don’t want a phone call. I’m not going to 'Paradise.' I’m not doing 'The Bachelorette.' I’m done.' When he started the sentence with that, I knew what was coming."
Now that the news about her position as Bachelorette is out in the open, Tayshia said it feels "surreal" to have people know.
She shared, "I’ve been keeping a secret for so long. I haven’t really been able to talk to anybody except for my family. It’s a lot. I don’t think people realize how hard of a time I’ve had personally internally."
Tayshia contrasted her time as Bachelorette to the other women before her.
"When you’re announced as the Bachelorette, you have so much time to get into that headspace and get excited for what’s to come. For me, I got a phone call and went into quarantine and went straight into filming," she told Rachel and Becca. "All the excitement that you experienced, I wasn’t a part of that. I have no idea that was even going on. I came out of my journey and I was processing what just happened. For so long I’ve been in this 'What’s going on?' phase that it’s exciting to now embrace it."
Tayshia’s conversation with Becca and Rachel continues on Thursday’s episode of "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation." To hear Tayshia discuss her time as Bachelorette and what she thinks of the men, be sure to listen to the full "Bachelor Happy Hour" episode now.
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