Rachel Lindsay is opening up about some of her experiences with former friend and fellow one-time Bachelor contestant Raven Gates!
The 36-year-old, who was the series lead on season 13 of The Bachelorette, is writing about her time on TV with Raven as part of Lindsay’s new memoir, Miss Me With That. Of course, Rachel and Raven first connected on the ABC show back in 2017 when they were competing for Nick Viall‘s heart prior to Rachel’s ascension to Bachelorette the next season.
Sadly, just a couple years after both women competed on Viall’s season, Rachel confirmed that she and the 30-year-old Arkansas native were no longer friends. And while we still don’t know exactly what happened there, we do know Rachel is now speaking about the whole situation.
Writing in Miss Me With That, which was released on Tuesday, the Dallas native explained things got off on the wrong foot back during Viall’s run on The Bachelor. Lindsay recalled in the book how Raven used a journal during her time on the show, and was making a point to write in it every day.
One day, Raven took her journal out and read aloud what she’d written about the other women competing for Viall’s love. When Raven got to Rachel, the attorney recalled what happened (below):
“Raven was always writing in her journal. One night, she read aloud her first-night impressions of each of us. ‘Rachel — she has black skin. And she seems nice.’”
Whoa! Uhhh, thanks?? Seems very strange to comment on someone’s race like that?! Lindsay immediately picked up on the commentary, and recalled thinking this about it at the time (below):
“What the f**k? Who says that s**t? Not only do you think it, but you actually say it out loud for people to hear? Of all the ways you could describe me, that’s what you came up with? You ain’t ever seen a black person before? Like, never seen one of us up close? Like I’m out here in the wild like a gorilla?’”
WTF?!
It’s not a great look for Gates. Just saying!
Luckily, Lindsay proved to be the bigger person and was able to look past the strange start, and the pair eventually settled into a really close friendship. The duo hung out a lot after filming for Viall’s season ended — and Rachel even gave Raven her blessing to date Adam Gottschalk (pictured in the inset, above), who had been a contestant on Lindsay’s follow-up season of The Bachelorette!
The connection to Gottschalk really worked for Raven, as they married last year and welcomed their first child a few weeks ago. So it makes it all the more unfortunate to realize how Raven and Rachel’s friendship TOTALLY fizzled out! Lindsay won’t discus what happened, either. Bachelor Nation fans will recall how Bryan Abasolo‘s wife appeared on Watch What Happens Live back in October and told host Andy Cohen this about their ex-friendship:
“I can’t say. I promised I wouldn’t say, but it was enough for me to not want to be friends with her anymore.”
Oh no! Now, even though she’s still not saying what caused her to stop being friends with Raven, Rachel did write about the viewers’ response to her appearance on that Bravo show in the new book.
Rachel wrote of her frustrations with the entire thing:
“They went so far as to call Raven the bigger person, as she did interviews claiming to have no idea why I was upset with her and that she missed our friendship. Even though it was clear that I’m the one who ended that relationship, I don’t get the benefit of the doubt that I had a good reason to do so.”
Oof!
Sounds like a sticky situation between those two. And that alleged “black skin” comment… Yikes… Thoughts, Perezcious readers?? Sound OFF with your take down in the comments (below).
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