After being named the Bachelor franchise’s first Asian American lead, Jenn Tran engineered another first and proposed to her final choice, Devin Strader. As we all know, he later changed his mind and ended things over the phone … which, come the finale, made it extra brutal for her to rewatch that blissful scene (and for Us to see her naked emotion).
As an honoree in Us Weekly’s Reality Stars of the Year issue, Tran, 26, looks back at her whirlwind year so far, calling the journey “heartbreaking,” “emotional” and “hopeful.”
“‘Buckle up, buddy!’” she says when asked what she would tell the version of herself who was leaving to go film The Bachelorette last spring. “I would say that sometimes things don’t work out the way that you want them to, but that’s because the universe has a different plan for you and just to buckle up and enjoy the ride.”
Later on in the conversation, she admits, “If I had to go back, I would tell myself to trust my gut and dig into it a little bit more and to trust my intuition.”
In spite of (or perhaps in light of) the ending, this Bachelorette scorned inspired America with both her strength and her history-making run.
“So many women and men come up to me and say, ‘I went through a broken engagement too,’” she says. “People of color [say], ‘I’ve never seen anyone like you on screen.’… [It] brings it full circle for me. I went to try and find love, but I’m also healing an inner child part of so many people. I’m able to bring to surface a lot of things that Asian people don’t get to talk about often — dating culture and what that looks like. I’m grateful to be able to have done that for people. It’s going to look different for every Asian American out there, but to start that and to be able to heal that part of so many young men and women makes me proud. It makes me excited for where we’re gonna go with it all.”
Before the finale turned messy, fans saw Tran’s family on the show.
“Watching those scenes, [I realized] I’ve never seen Vietnamese language or food being spoken or showcased on American television in a way that wasn’t a stereotype,” she says. “It was normalized, like, ‘This is just my family. This is the way things work.’”
But what does she tell fans, especially those who’ve dated someone like Strader? “Remember, your gut is telling you something for a reason,” Tran says. “Don’t let anybody manipulate you [or] try to tell you otherwise.”
In the aftermath, Strader opted to release their text messages in an attempt to sway public opinion, but Tran dusted herself off and immediately signed on for Dancing With the Stars. “I’m relearning how to smile,” she says. “For me, the best ‘revenge’ is living my best life.”
Tran has also had a special guest in the audience for most live shows — her past contestant Jonathon Johnson — but it’s not romantic between the pair.
“To have somebody who’s been such a constant in my life and to be here every week without fail to support me, that means so much to me as somebody who hasn’t had that a lot in my life,” Tran tells Us. “So I can’t be more grateful for having such an amazing friend like him.”
Once a Bachelorette always a Bachelorette, however, meaning fans will be interested in Tran’s love life for the foreseeable future. She got her first taste of what her future dating in the public eye could look like when she mentioned during an interview on the “Viall Files” podcast that NBA player Max Strus was her celebrity crush. Strus subsequently followed her on Instagram and fans took notice.
“I did not know the impact that that was going to make. I did not realize that it was going to spread like wildfire so quickly,” she tells Us with a laugh. “But hey, everything happens for a reason.”
Tran confirmed at the time of the interview that her “heart can be closed, but my DMs can be open.” Jersey Shore’s Vinny Guadagnino has since revealed he’s interested when Us asked him who his reality star of the year was.
“If Jenn Tran is single — she’s been posting pictures of that guy [Jonathon], somebody broke her heart — I will be siding in the DMs. But if she’s with that guy, I take back my answer,” he said.
When Us asked Tran about Guadagnino’s remarks at the Tuesday, October 8, taping of DWTS, she played coy.
“I gotta be careful what I say,” she says. “I’m from New Jersey. I grew up in New Jersey and he’s just such an amazing guy, such a sweet sweetheart. And I watched him on Dancing in the Stars and I’m excited for him to come back to the ballroom one day and watch us dance.”
For more with the Reality Stars of the Year, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
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