Tayshia Adams opens up about race on ‘The Bachelorette’

Tayshia Adams broke down in tears as she discussed the death of George Floyd on 'The Bachlorette'

Nov 25, 2020

Tayshia Adams is going there on The Bachelorette and we’re here for it.

Even though the reality dating competition show is usually all about the romance, this week’s episode took a more serious turn and devoted a lot of airtime to conversations about race.

Tayshia Adams thegrio.com — Tayshia Adams (Credit: Facebook)

On Tuesday’s episode of the ABC series, Adams (who took over for Clare Crawley mid-season) opened up about how the tumultuous summer and racial reckoning that erupted after the death of George Floyd prompted her to re-examine her thoughts on race.

She broke down into tears while discussing how the death of Floyd and resulting social unrest affected her while speaking to one of her suitors, Ivan Hall.

“Being in Orange County and surrounded by a lot of people that don’t look like me — being the only person that looks like me — I’m realizing that I’ve been trying so hard my whole life to blend in because I knew I was different,” she said on the show. “I didn’t really want to cry about it or open up about it, but hearing people yell ‘Black Lives Matter,’ it hit me more than I realize just because those are people in my backyard that I’ve been trying to prove for so long that I’m the same as them.”

Hall, who is also bi-racial, shared that his younger brother faced brutal mistreatment while in prison and was equally moved by the movement.

“It’s opened my eyes in the sense of, ‘What the hell are you doing? Wake up,'” she told him of her past. “Having different, beautiful relationships with people that I probably wouldn’t have [before], is amazing to me.”

It seems Adams and Hall bonded over their shared experiences.

“He understands me more than anybody else can. That’s obviously what I’ve been looking for,” she told the cameras.

Adams is only the second Black woman to star in the series that has been going for 16 seasons and it looks like the franchise is finally ready to get real about race.

The next Bachelor star, Matt James, will make history next year when he becomes the first Black man to lead the beloved series.

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