Kaitlyn Bristowe is coming forward with her life story — and some parts will really surprise you.
The former Bachelorette leading lady has long been a popular, funny, and unique personality within the longstanding reality TV show’s cast of love-seekers. But now, the 34-year-old Canadian is coming clean about the things she’s been through behind the scenes, too. Buckle up…
Related: Will Clare Crawley’s Season Of ‘The Bachelorette’ Ever Make It To TV?
Bristowe, who has a new YouTube-based vlogging venture called 9 To Wine that’s just getting started, used the channel’s inaugural episode to reveal to fans some important details of her life story. From her childhood growing up in Leduc, Alberta (or, ‘LA,’ as she calls it!), through some awkward and transformative teen years, and a VERY interesting set of experiences in her 20s, she doesn’t hold back at all.
There are plenty of funny stories of high school performances and crazy tales of her youth — the Off The Vine podcast host revealed she used to pull down her pants as a little kid every time she got angry! — but the most surprising story came after she quit on a dance team for a Canadian Football League team. Though she’d worked hard to earn the spot, she was in love with a hockey player at the time. And when he was sent to Newfoundland to play — literally across the country from her one-time home in Vancouver — Bristowe decided to go with him.
As difficult as Newfoundland was, being away from everybody she knew and loved, her boyfriend’s team next sent him to Germany (!), and she followed. The soon-to-be reality TV star explained living in a foreign country like that was “very hard,” but she added:
“Everything in me told me to follow my heart… but a small part of me was dying everyday that I wasn’t doing what I loved to do. And I think that was really hard for me and I think that would be really hard for anyone to lose that part of passion in your life, just to follow somebody else’s dream.”
Taking her own advice to heart, she moved back in with her parents at 27 years old, eventually seeking treatment for depression in the process. She revealed her hopelessness, going into the doctor’s office feeling “that life was over for me” as she tried to process her breakup and return home.
When she told her doctor about those thoughts, he placed her on Valium — although, as she explains in the video, she wasn’t aware just how strong it was at the time she began to take it. Bristowe shared more about what turned into full-blown addiction and a scary amount of weight loss, saying:
“I wasn’t aware what it would do to me. At first, things were great… [but soon] I had become addicted to Valium and I was about 93 pounds and that is when somebody had to shake me and say you can’t live like this, this is not you. I’ll never forget my mom coming into the room middle of the night with YouTube videos of hypnotizing people saying, ‘You’re happy, you’re going to be okay,’ and she just played it in my ear as I slept.”
Wow…
Slowly but surely, things got better for Kaitlyn, and while she weaned herself off the valium she also learned an important lesson, as she noted in the video:
“You cannot make somebody else responsible for your own happiness.”
Amen, girl!
Related: Kaitlyn Reveals ‘PTSD’ From Her Time As ‘The Bachelorette’
Watch Kaitlyn tell the entire story — and everything else — in the video (below):
Wow. Amazing stuff!
And not long after all the drama, she wound up on Chris Soules‘ season of The Bachelor, only to spin off on her own lucky year helming the sister show. And from there, well, the rest is history, isn’t it?
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF about all of it down in the comments (below)…
[Image via YouTube]
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