So scary.

Fans have watched countless Bachelors and Bachelorettes search for love on various Bachelor Nation shows over the years. 

Two former Bachelorettes, Charity Lawson and Rachel Recchia, are the co-hosts of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast and have previously spilled production insights from their time in the franchise. 

This week, they interviewed former “Bachelor” producer Desiree Duckett about her experience with Bachelor Nation and revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets. And during her interview, Desiree also opened up about the terrifying moment when she survived a near-fatal brain aneurysm while filming “The Golden Bachelorette.”

Detailing the event, she explained, “When I was filming Joan’s season of ‘The Golden Bachelorette,’ I had a brain aneurysm. Which is a crazy sentence to say — it still sounds crazy coming out of my mouth. Randomly, you don’t normally know that that’s gonna happen. So, essentially, my brain exploded. It’s a brain bleed and it causes a stroke, your body shuts down, your brain shuts down… Your cognitive abilities shut down. Like, everything shuts down. And I don’t know another way to put it — you’re dying, essentially.”

Desiree continued and shared it was the worst pain she’s ever experienced. “Luckily I had some friends with me — some other producers — who were able to call 911 and get me into emergency surgery and all of that,” she said. “It was spooky. It feels like, when people say it’s the worst pain of your life, it really is. The only way to explain it is it felt like someone took a bat to the inside of my head and you just feel it explode.”

The producer also recalled being in the ICU in L.A. for a month, as well as briefly being in a coma. She remembered having to relearn how to walk and talk, noting “it was a long recovery.” 

“Crazy thing that happened, but I had so much support from Bachelor Nation, from my friends and family, my support system,” she shared. “When you have a brain aneurysm, most people don’t survive. And then of those who do survive, most don’t make a full recovery. So obviously at that time, and I think I was still unconscious, people didn’t know whether or not I was gonna survive.”

Desiree recalled experiencing loved ones telling her how much she meant to them due to not knowing if she was going to make it through.

“Normally if someone unfortunately does pass, that’s when people like, you know, everyone comes to the funeral and everyone makes the posts and everyone says what this person meant to them. But they’re not saying it to the person because the person is gone,” she expressed.

“A lot of times people wait until that happens. But because people thought I was probably gonna die and then I didn’t and I woke up, everybody kind of rushed to my side... I heard from everyone, and that’s when everyone told me to my face what I meant to them.”

She added, “To know how I’ve impacted people and how much people care… that is the best thing for me that came out of it because it was really eye-opening and just made me feel so special and so appreciated. I can’t really put it into words. But it really meant, it meant everything.” 

We’re sending Desiree our love, and we so appreciate her telling this story. Listen to her full interview in the “Bachelor Happy Hour” episode below.