Podcast #79 is finally upon us and it’s a very open and candid interview with “Bachelorette” #2, Meredith Phillips. In this podcast, Meredith reveals for the first time a story of alleged sexual abuse that happened to her while she was the Bachelorette. You will hear once she tells me this I’m pretty stunned by the story hence the awkward silence and long pauses, etc. She did not reveal the name of the alleged perpetrator, so there really is no way for me to confirm the details. But as with any story where we are hearing only one side, I would encourage everyone to keep an open mind until all sides of the story are told, if they ever are. That said, I am glad Meredith was able to share her story because I’m sure that wasn’t easy. Along with telling this story, Meredith also opens up about her battle with alcoholism which you can see below became national news in 2013. There are some truth bombs she drops during that portion of the interview as well that are quite revealing. It was hard to hear, as I’m sure it was hard for Meredith to share, so I applaud her for having the courage to be so open with me and talk about all this stuff in a public forum.
One correction from the interview that I want to make is that I make reference to Becca’s season being season 15 of the “Bachelorette.” It’s actually season 14.
There was about 1 minute of this interview that had to be edited to remove people’s names to protect their privacy. It doesn’t change anything in regards to her story, but I wanted to let you know ahead of time since I rarely, if ever, edit my podcasts in regards to content. Usually it’s just for any sound issues. I know people will have a reaction to this interview, both positive and negative. Meredith isn’t really on social media, so there’s not a way to really reach out to her, but she knows this story might bring some attention. She knows what telling a story like this could do and she’s well aware of the stigma attached to it. But as you’ll hear, she felt it was something she really needed to talk about because it’s stayed with her a long time and very few people have heard her tell it. Please take the time to listen to the whole interview before passing judgment on anything. I appreciate it.
You can listen to today’s podcast on a number of platforms, but you can also tune in by clicking the player below:
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Stitcher, Spotify
Music written by Jimmer Podrasky
(B’Jingo Songs/Machia Music/Bug Music BMI)
(SPOILERS) Meredith joins me to talk about how she got cast on Bob’s season of the “Bachelor,” how did she feel towards Bob (7:28), becoming the “Bachelorette” and how quickly that happened (14:34), Ian being the one she knew immediately (22:25), Meredith then talks about an alleged sexual abuse that happened to her (31:55), choosing Ian over Matthew (43:14), did she think Ian was going to propose (47:12), does she ever think she made the wrong choice (49:42), her engagement to Ian, where it went wrong, and what happened (51:36), is she still in love with Ian (57:45), her People.com story from 2013 where she admitted to being alcoholic & the factors that played into it – her abusive marriage, her father’s infidelity (1:02:20), does she still drink (1:17:50), and what she’s doing now (1:21:08).
People.com – Former Bachelorette Star Opens Up About Her Battle With Alcoholism
2013 Interview with ABC News:
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is “RealitySteve,” or join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page. Talk to you soon.
nuts
May 23, 2018 at 10:56 AM
Wow, I feel sorry for Meredith. It is very sad that they took advantage of her. But she sounds like she still needs a lot of therapy. Steve, you handled it well for not being at all prepared.
kmd10533
May 23, 2018 at 12:34 PM
She sounds highly medicated. Poor girl seems really troubled.
kmd10533
May 23, 2018 at 12:55 PM
Whoa, just finished the whole thing and she sounds worse and worse. I think she’s wasted:(
tinyred500
May 23, 2018 at 1:31 PM
It was painful to listen to and for many different reasons. I agree with the above comments, she has a way to go and did sound out of it etc. I wish her the very best.
nsawyer1010
May 23, 2018 at 2:02 PM
Really sounds like she can’t catch a break. I feel bad because she still sounds like she is so unhappy. 🙁
meghanmillertime
May 23, 2018 at 2:36 PM
That poor girl. How awful. She does not sound sober at all. I don’t think it is a matter of her being deliberate and Thorough. I think it is a matter of her not being on something during this interview. She jumped all over the place.
willowby
May 23, 2018 at 6:10 PM
So many questions! Did the masseuse continue to be part of the crew, or was she brought in one time? How did she collect herself and continue on as if nothing happened? She didn’t elaborate. Did she tell Ian?
She was very off, at times defensive. It all made sense when she said she’s still drinking.
I hope she continues to work on herself and is able to find true happiness. And I hope the franchise can clean up its sleazy culture.
djagent7
May 23, 2018 at 7:06 PM
Kudos to you Steve. You handled it really well. I also commend you for your opening statement in which you were so kind as to say that she speaks slowly because she was speaking thoughtfully or deliberately. I am guessing that she was not sober during the podcast. However I do believe her story. I feel so badly for Meredith. I hope she gets some kind of counseling. She must have felt comfortable speaking to you to have opened up like that. Hopefully it will help her to deal with the trauma she suffered. I wish her the best.
Steve, you are a real professional.
lynnj
May 23, 2018 at 8:34 PM
That was really hard to listen to. She sounded like she was impaired during that interview. So sad.
canon
May 23, 2018 at 9:07 PM
Love your content, hate your site. So many ads, page is always jumping around, podcast hangs and lags terribly. 3 hrs so far trying to watch and still more to go. Maddening. Then something starts playing over the podcast, but it won’t let me scroll to go find it. Seriously, work on the page.
I feel so bad for Meredith. That’s a LOT to happen! ABC will have to address this. Yikes.
LynnS
May 23, 2018 at 10:44 PM
I started using an ad blocker a few years ago, and ever since then, I have seen no ads whatsoever. The pages are stable.
Not true of his podcast through this page. I have never been successful listening to it this way. There are several other apps that you can listen to this through, and they work flawlessly.
tinyred500
May 24, 2018 at 12:55 AM
I use the app for Podcasts and have zero issues. 😀
tinyred500
May 24, 2018 at 12:59 AM
The whole masseuse issues brought up a lot of questions from me too. Was the producer still there when this was going on etc?! What was the response when Merideth told them what happened? I hope the franchise addresses this, but with Becca’s season looming, they just might want to bury it. 🙁
salsashoes
May 24, 2018 at 2:32 AM
No wonder she doesn’t maintain a high profile public presence as a “former bachelorette” like all the others do…the show let her down and cast a negative influence in her life. Glad she found the strength to come out about this.
lane
May 24, 2018 at 6:36 AM
WOW many of you are assuming Meredith was not sober during the interview. It is extremely wrong & unfair to make that assumption on a public forum. It is a form of bullying. I watched her season & have heard her in interviews. I think she was being thoughtful & deliberate in what she was saying. She has been through a lot & I bet she had no intention to open up that much. Steve- you did an excellent job with the interview. Everyone should hold off on making judgements for which they no nothing about. No wonder women have been afraid to speak up through the years!!!
katieottawa
May 24, 2018 at 11:14 AM
Hands down the most depressive podcast ever. Dont listen to this if you are in a good mood. geez. This seemed more like a therapy session than a podcast. Somethings not right with her, she seemed out of it and sounded very depressed. Watching her in the youtube clip she speaks fine there and i remember her season and she was perky and alert. Sorry to say but she was definitely on something whether it be drugs, booze or medication. it was taking her so long to answer the questions.
I agree with the comments above, this woman needs help whether it be therapy, counseling,AA meeting.. something. Sounds like she has gone thru a lot in recent years; bad breakups, addiction, divorce, abuse, parents death but I am not sure this was the appropriate platform to lay all her issues out for everyone to hear. I dont think steve should have aired this one.
ladyjane747
May 24, 2018 at 1:18 PM
If you focus on the content rather than the delivery, she’s coherent, makes a lot of sense, and has some insightful things to say about the show. It was obviously hard for her to come clean about the sexual assault and I think it got harder for her to speak after that reveal. I lost both of my parents in the span of two years when I was in my 20’s and it is devastating. I didn’t drink but I did start having panic attacks. Everyone deals differently. I think she showed a lot of courage to come out and be as open as she was. Never watched any of her shows, so I don’t know she’s like otherwise, but she definitely thought about each of her answers and was very deliberate. Steve would ask her a question and she’d answer with one word and I think that threw off Steve a bit so there were some awkward pauses on his end, also, and of course, he was shocked by what she was revealing. Raw but interesting podcast. And I’d rather here Meredith speak than Izzy Goodkind – good grief! She was annoying.
lmcgee13
May 24, 2018 at 6:03 PM
This woman was clearly impaired. That isn’t a judgement, it was obvious. At the end Steve went on and on about the revelation of the alleged incident in the hot tub. Whether or not that happened isn’t the tragedy of this podcast. The tragedy is that Steve was not aware enough to realize that this woman was in some way impaired. I feel it was completely unethical to publish a podcast when someone is that impaired and then reveals sordid details about herself and her family. Does anyone think for a minute that her interview would have been completely different had she been sober? It was horrific. What happened to human decency? I don’t think Steve is malicious, but the decision to air this podcast show very poor judgment. Disappointing.
lmcgee13
May 24, 2018 at 6:11 PM
You’re right! She probably had no intention of opening up like that, but did so because her judgement was impaired! Everyone feels so bad for her for what she went through. Now this podcast becomes another horrible thing she went though!
LynnS
May 24, 2018 at 6:36 PM
I understand what you’re saying. The reason I’m not upset with this podcast being aired is because Steve did talk to her afterwards when presumably she had time to consider if this should be aired. She could’ve changed her mind when she was not impaired, and Steve would not have aired it.
ladyjane747
May 24, 2018 at 7:39 PM
I’ve seen/heard celebrities more “impaired” than this woman on talk shows. I really don’t get why everyone thinks she was so messed up? She spoke slowly and deliberately. She wasn’t slurring, stumbling, incoherent or ranting.
lane
May 25, 2018 at 8:50 PM
Well said, ladyjane. I agree.
shellyleit
May 28, 2018 at 12:37 PM
I’m sorry for what she went through. And no, she didn’t sound like she was drinking until later on in the interview, but she was most likely drinking during the interview because if you are an alcoholic and you are “still drinking” that means you drink every day, throughout the day, until you go to sleep. You have a physical dependency. That is what alcoholism means. You *have* to drink every day or you have withdrawal symptoms. I lived with an alcoholic for over 20 years. That’s how it works. She needs professional help and everyone should encourage her to get help.