Kaitlyn Bristowe is apologizing to Chelsea Vaughn.
Earlier this week, the former Bachelorette accessed Instagram Stories to talk about the 25th season star’s conversation with Matt James in The bachelor in which Chelsea spoke about her experience with hair and the emotional side of hair for black women. Kaitlyn then started talking about her own hair insecurities and promoting a vitamin.
On January 28, Kaitlyn returned to the social platform and shared a clip of herself watching a video titled “The History of Black Hair”.
“I was doing some research on my last video and wanted to explain why,” she told fans. “And some of you may know and some may not. And I think that the people who maybe watched my story and didn’t see his should also be educated, about what I’m going to try to talk about now.”
The 35-year-old actress admitted that she “selfishly stopped listening” to Chelsea’s conversation with Matt during this week’s episode. Instead, she started talking to her boyfriend Jason Tartick about your own hair.
“I was like, ‘Yes, there is an emotional attachment. I’m so insecure about my hair,'” she said. “And I feel completely, completely ignorant. I am ignorant. I was ignorant at that moment so as not to hear the rest of her story and understand the story behind why she has insecurities around her hair.”
The bachelor 2021: Meet the women of the Matt James season
She also acknowledged that she owed Chelsea and her followers an apology for their ignorance and for comparing their own experience with that of Chelsea in the promotion. “I’m humiliated,” said Kaitlyn. “I’m so humiliated that I didn’t listen.”
And while the Dancing with the stars alum said she “may have hair insecurities and emotional attachment to hair”, she made it clear that “it is not comparable to Chelsea’s journey with the hair and the story behind it and why she has that feeling.”
“Chelsea’s experience is deeply rooted in black culture and beauty standards,” said Kaitlyn, “and I have done a lot of research on what it looked like for many centuries.”
She then wrote: “I am ashamed to contribute to profit from the struggle of a black woman.”
Near the end of her video, Kaitlyn posted a link to the video she watched and thanked Chelsea for sharing her story. “I’m so happy that, you know, ABC is starting to share these voices and showing the representation of all colors and they should be making more shapes and sizes too,” she added. “You know, we can dive into it another day.”
In addition, she thanked her fellow Bachelor Nation star Taylor Nolan for having a conversation with her.
“I know it’s not her job and I shouldn’t rely on black women to help explain these kinds of things, because I can do the job myself,” said Kaitlyn. “But thanks for getting in touch with Taylor and for talking to me today. And I don’t know if Chelsea is really going to watch this, but I’m going to get in touch with you and I’d love to talk too.”
A follower then suggested that Kaitlyn donate the paid partnership money to an organization that supports black women. “This is an incredible idea,” wrote Kaitlyn, “and I’m going to do just that.”
In her conversation with Matt, Chelsea talked about the “emotionally liberating experience” of shaving her hair.
“I don’t know, I don’t think people realize how emotional hair can be, especially for black women,” said the catwalk model. “Just because, like, I was literally, like, chemically straightening my hair since I was 2 years old. Like, all my friends are white. My school was white. And I didn’t even feel comfortable, like, leaving my home without my hair being straight. Like, there were times when I just had a lot of anxiety and stress about what people would think. It’s definitely a unique experience that black women have with their hair. “
She also talked about her decision to have a conversation with Matt during an episode of Single Happy Hour podcast.
“I just think that, as women, and especially as black women, a lot of our self-esteem is linked to our hair,” explained Chelsea. “And I don’t know if a lot of people realize or understand that, especially when it comes to black women, and I mean it was really really important to me, so it’s obviously something that I wanted to share with someone that I’m potentially going to end up with, my partner. “
She then realized that she hadn’t seen these conversations come up on the show before.
“I watched the program since I was younger and there weren’t that many black contestants or Bachelor drive. No one is going to talk about the hair journey, “added Chelsea.” And I think some people might have it – I hope they don’t do it anymore – but they might see it as trivial because it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s just hair.’ And so, even for a while, I felt that way. I felt it wasn’t important enough for me to bring to people or it wasn’t, like, an insecurity big enough to be, like, valid. And then it wasn’t until I decided to shave it that I realized how important it was and how much effect it had on me. “
Sign up to receive our weekly Bachelor Beat newsletter to get all updates on the single nation!