After one of most dramatic “Bachelorette” finales in the reality show’s history, lead Jenn Tran is getting by with a little help from a friend.
Tran, 26, who’s been in Los Angeles to film for “Dancing With The Stars” following the finale aired earlier this month, said she’s been grateful to gain a friend in “Bachelorette” contestant Jonathan Johnson.
Tran said she’s been “leaning” on Johnson, especially after the emotional season ended with Tran proposing to finalist Devin Strader, before it was revealed he had ended the engagement by phone.
“Jonathan’s been such a light in all of this,” Tran told NBC News. “I didn’t come out of this journey with a fiance, but I at least got a really good friend out of it, a really good human out of it, makes me really excited.”
While romance rumors have emerged between the two, fueled by videos posted this past weekend of Tran visiting Los Angeles and making TikToks with Johnson on social media, Tran clarified that she’s not in the market for a new man.
“I’m just not at a place to explore a relationship with anyone, not even just Jonathan. It’s just not something that’s been on my mind at all,” said Tran, who is from New Jersey and has been studying to be a physician assistant in Miami. “I’m just taking time to myself and doing things for myself and I just don’t think I have the space in my head or my heart to add a guy into the picture at the moment.”
The finale and the weeks since have been messy between Tran and Strader. During the final episode, Tran had to sit next to the contestant and watch the moment she popped the question in Hawaii.
In front of a studio audience, a tearful Tran explained that Strader began pulling away before breaking off the engagement. Strader appeared remorseful during the episode, saying he was “regretfully late” in expressing his doubts.
But last week, Strader went on to post a since-deleted video on his Instagram page, saying that he attempted to have the breakup conversation in person on multiple occasions while Tran refused and claimed she “forced” his hand. However, during his first attempt to post the video, Strader shared a flood of private, intimate messages from Tran. In an Instagram story that was later deleted, Strader wrote that he apologized “from the bottom of my heart.”
Tran said she felt “betrayed.”
“I thought I knew who this person was, and then to feel like the relationship was diminished by publicizing texts between us — t was disrespectful,” she said. “It’s been tough. It hasn’t been easy, but at the end of the day, I am proud of the choices that I made. There was no way in which I would have known that he was a different person.”
Fans have been outspoken about the finale and Tran having to watch the proposal next to Strader. It wrapped what was supposed to be a pioneering season of the franchise with Tran being the first Asian American star of “The Bachelorette.” Viewers said it cast a shadow on what should have been an Asian American getting to be the “main character,” instead of a sidekick, as Tran has said.
Tran has since said that she was made aware beforehand that she would have to watch the moment and “actually wanted to” do so.
Many others say they saw themselves in Tran’s dating woes. The love from fans of color, Tran said, has been among the most supportive elements of the season.
“With all the support that I’ve been getting from women and men of color, it’s just felt so, so healing. I resonate with them so much,” Tran said. “And to be able to have that community come alive and come behind me through a very, very public breakup too, has just been so like something that I never thought would happen.”
Tran also said she appreciated all the fan support for her brother, James, who vetted the men and expressed strong opinions.
“My brother has always been someone who’s so insightful and so perceptive. All my friends have gone to him for dating advice since I’ve been growing up,,” she said. “He was skeptical of the guys on the season but at the end of the day, he gave me space to make my own mistakes and learn from it.”