Post-Bachelorette Britt Nilsson Is Living A “Reality”-Free Life

As ABC recounts Kaitlyn Bristowe's Bachelorette season on Monday, it's important to remember that it could have been Britt Nilsson's Bachelorette season. Kaitlyn's season happened the year that both women from Chris Soules' Bachelor season were invited on The Bachelorette, and the contestants got to vote on who they'd rather keep dating for the season. The problematic premise angered some fans, but after Kaitlyn won and her season quickly became known for even bigger controversies, things turned out okay for Britt in the real world.

At first, it seemed like she may have found love on the show anyway, with contestant Brady Toops choosing to leave Kaitlyn's season to explore his connection with Britt. They dated for several months before breaking up in mid-July 2015. Two years later, Britt was engaged to someone she didn't meet on TV. In fact, People reported that Britt had actually dated her then-fiancé Jeremy Byrne years before ever going on The Bachelor in the first place. The outlet reported that they'd been set up by friends in around 2012 or 2013. It didn't work at the time, but when they reconnected in late 2015, the spark was still there. Britt told People that she appreciated how normal they could be together. 

"I think the show taught me that love is complex, and has more to do with really becoming someone's best friend than it has to do with fancy dates and helicopters! I made some great friends on the show, but the realist, truest love of my life was in the real world, and I'd rather be grocery shopping with the love of my life than in a private jet without him," she said.

Britt learned more than just what she wanted (or didn't want) from her time in Bachelor Nation. In July 2017, she opened up in a YouTube video about how going on the show exacerbated her struggles with addiction and bulimia. "For me, having tons of food everywhere [on The Bachelor]… it just became too much," she said. "I would just eat to shove down — I had pain and anxiety, I felt insecure, I didn't feel pretty enough, I didn't know what was going on, I missed my family. And I hadn't acted out that way in a long time."

After The Bachelorette, she committed herself to recovery and said she'd been sober for two years as of 2017 and was successfully managing her eating disorder.

By September 2017, she was married, after a short four-month engagement. And in December 2019, she announced that she and her husband were expecting their first child together.

On May 25, she said her daughter was due in just two weeks, which would have meant sometime around June 8.  She hasn't posted on Instagram since June 1, so it's possible that Britt's already given birth and is just enjoying that new mom time before announcing her daughter's arrival to the world. She's lived a lot of very personal experiences in the public eye, so it's hard to blame her for wanting to keep this one private — if just for right now.