Rachel Lindsayhas had to endure a lot followingher headline-makingExtrainterviewwith formerBachelorhostChris Harrison.
Hisdeparture from hostingthe ABC franchise was announced that June.
For Lindsay, the interview with Harrison resulted in her being on the receiving end of death threats.
“I’m used to being misunderstood,” Lindsay, 36, says in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. “But people who didn’t even watch the show were saying, ‘That woman got that man canceled.’ I had commenters saying they hoped I was infertile. That ripped me up inside.”
Rachel Lindsay.Astrid Stawiarz/Getty
“I still get messages blaming me for the show not being the way it used to be. But I think that’s a good thing,” she says, adding that it was “never part of some master plan” to get Harrison fired.
“I hope the show steps up and diversifies more, whether it’s with age or gender or race. I would like for them to naturally and organically step into 2022,” Lindsay says.
Rachel Lindsay and Chris Harrison.Randy Holmes/Getty Images
For more from Rachel Lindsay, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
The interview aftermath has additionally resulted in Lindsay and Harrison no longer being in communication with one another.
“We haven’t spoken,” Lindsay says. “He unfollowed me. That tells me everything I need to know.”
When things go awry, Lindsay can always count on her “rock,” husbandBryan Abasolo, for support.
Lindsay met Abasolo, 41, on herBacheloretteseason airing in 2017. After getting engaged at the end of filming, the pairwedin 2019 at the Royalton Suites Cancún in Mexico.
“When I have those vulnerable moments, he always gives me a pep talk and brings me back to center,” she says of Abasolo. “I’m so thankful I have him.”
Mike Pont/Getty
Aside from her romance being a Bachelor Nation success story, Lindsay admits she no longer feels “connected to the show” at this point in her life.
But she “would never want it to end,” saysthe formerBachelor Happy Hourhost.
“I’m so glad I did the show and had the opportunity to represent myself,” she says. “There were benefits I got from it, obviously, but I didn’t have a Black consultant. I was teachingthemabout the Black experience and trying to find love at the same time, something no other lead had to do.”
Lindsay’s collection of essays,Miss Me with That: Hot Takes, Helpful Tidbits, and a Few Hard Truths, will be released on Jan. 25.
Dory Jackson
source: people.com
