Addressing the news.

Former Bachelorettes Rachel Recchia and Charity Lawson have been interviewing the men from Season 22 of “The Bachelorette” to hear what they have to say in regard to the season’s current pause. 

Each week, they’ve gotten to know more about the men and discuss current events surrounding the show. This week, more news broke about Taylor Frankie Paul, and Charity and Rachel sat down to address it. 

Rachel started off by sharing, “The DA announced that they will not file any criminal charges against Taylor Frankie Paul.” And Charity chimed in to give a brief summary of what’s been going on for listeners who may not know. 

She said, “Obviously we all, I think the world, saw the public video that went everywhere. And that incident happened in 2023, which Taylor has already been charged against and was on probation. So, this hearing, specifically, was for the new charges that were brought against her. That, I wanna say, were brought up in February during that time frame. So, all of those charges have been dropped because there was not sufficient evidence for them to prosecute. So, in Taylor’s defense, this is a big win for her because I think that’s what most people were waiting on to hear or to see.”

Charity went on, explaining that while the recent news was a win for Taylor, there is still "a lot more to uncover."

“Specifically, when I mention that, I’m referencing what’s gonna happen with their custody trial and obviously their child Ever,” she said. “How they’re going to determine — it sucks to even say, like, I hate saying this because it’s just such a sad situation — who’s going to get custody rights over Ever? Which, yeah, I think we’re all still kind of strapped in on the ride. Like, we don’t really know how that’s gonna go… I think Ever should be in the best care and I want that to be both of them interchangeably, but I don’t know if that’s gonna be the case. I literally don’t know, I have no idea.”

Rachel added, “I think that was so beautifully well said. Going into the 30th, they will be, like you said, seeing who gets custody as well as having the restraining orders. And thank God for that. It is so hard to, every day, open up my phone and see updates on this case because I just feel so bad obviously for the children and what is happening. But like you said, this is a win for Taylor in the sense that there will be no charges brought against her because she is — I guess I forget this and I think maybe some people do — still paying for the charges of that 2023 incident.”

While expressing empathy for what Taylor’s going through, the two also discussed the “double standard” that’s occurred as Charity stated that the tone would be different if it were someone else. 

“I just see the tide and the tone very different than what it would’ve probably been if it was someone who looked like me or not even looked like me. Someone who maybe didn’t have the upbringing that I had or the accolades,” she said, “There’s all these things and so when I sat down [on the other podcast] I was acknowledging the fact that I’m like, ‘I have to do my job so perfectly, I don’t have room for mistakes.’ And that’s a very hard position to be in and to go through life almost feeling like you have to be perfect when I know I’m a human being and I am with flaw. Like I am not without that, so it’s just interesting to see the discourse and how it switches.”  

Listen to more of Rachel and Charity’s conversation in the full episode below.