{"id":707972,"date":"2026-04-06T04:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T04:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/707972\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T04:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T04:36:13","slug":"ashley-iaconetti-talks-real-housewives-bachelor-taylor-frankie-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/707972\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashley Iaconetti Talks Real Housewives, Bachelor, Taylor Frankie Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEver since \u201cThe Bachelor<\/a>\u201d alum Ashley Iaconetti<\/a> was announced as one of the seven women anchoring Bravo\u2019s \u201cThe Real Housewives of Rhode Island<\/a>,\u201d fans of the long-running ABC franchise \u2014 which featured the reality star on at least four iterations \u2014 have been eager to see what she\u2019s up to now.<\/p>\n

\n\tIaconetti is somewhat of an icon within Bachelor Nation. Thanks to her intense emotions, her appearances on the franchise\u2019s multiple spinoffs have supplied viewers with gloriously entertaining confessionals and countless tear-filled outbursts. After making her \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d debut in 2015 as one of the 30 women vying for Chris Soules\u2019 heart in Season 19, she went on to appear on Seasons 2 and 3 of \u201cBachelor in Paradise,\u201d followed by a stint on the inaugural \u201cBachelor Winter Games.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIaconetti met her now-husband, Jared Haibon, on \u201cBachelor in Paradise,\u201d and the two tied the knot in 2019. In the years since, they\u2019ve welcomed two sons and settled into their off-screen \u2014 though still massively online \u2014 life as a family of four in Rhode Island, Haibon\u2019s home state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd while her romantic life might finally be stable, Iaconetti finds herself back in the drama among a \u201cReal Housewives of Rhode Island\u201d cast of fiery women who aren\u2019t afraid to raise their voices and point fingers in each other\u2019s faces \u2014 and most of whom she\u2019d never met prior to filming (In Episode 1, Iaconetti is introduced to the crew through her friend, Rosie DiMarie, during a beachside picnic).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve never seen people communicate with each other in the way in which I experienced this summer,\u201d Iaconetti tells Variety. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe my eyes so many times sitting in these situations, and I can only imagine that I will represent the audience at home watching.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Variety spoke to Iaconetti about her decision to return to reality TV (as seen on Thursday\u2019s \u201cReal Housewives of Rhode Island\u201d premiere), the differences between the two franchises and her thoughts on \u201cThe Bachelorette<\/a>\u201d and its now-paused Taylor Frankie Paul season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tBefore we dive into \u201cReal Housewives,\u201d why did you want to return to reality TV?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve always loved doing it. It\u2019s always been so fun for me. The opportunity to do \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d gave me my entire life, my family, my career and I\u2019m just forever grateful for that. I was always open to doing more of it if the opportunity presented itself, and it did. And it\u2019s a whole other world, I\u2019ll tell you that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tSo it didn\u2019t take any convincing<\/strong>?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, it did, because this franchise is so much different than \u201cThe Bachelor.\u201d It\u2019s a little more mixed into your real life. It\u2019s filmed in your own home, with your family. It gets more incorporated into your life. And so that was something that Jared and I discussed. We went over the decision for over a month, to be honest, because we were in such a happy, great place. And we\u2019re like, \u201cDo we jump into this again?\u201d We know how world rocking it can be, so it took a lot of thought and consideration. I\u2019d rather say \u201cyes\u201d to something and then deal with how long you want to be part of it then say \u201cno\u201d and never experience what could be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tDid being back on camera take any getting used to?\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI probably felt more at home than the rest of the cast. It didn\u2019t feel as invasive as I thought it would be. I always had preparation as to when the kids and the family would be on camera, and they weren\u2019t in my house a ton. It was honestly the drama that affected me more. On \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d for the most part, the girls get along pretty well. And here, that is not the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWere you a \u201cHousewives\u201d fan before being cast?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHonestly, the most I\u2019ve watched of \u201cHousewives\u201d has been with my mom. She has always loved the OG New York housewives. She watched all their seasons. Hilariously, I don\u2019t watch a ton of reality shows in general. Besides \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d I pretty much would only watch \u201cThe Kardashians.\u201d It\u2019s one of those things where if you\u2019re so close to it, you don\u2019t necessarily watch it.<\/p>\n

\t\tTwo episodes in, the women are already not getting along, but you\u2019re not really in the drama mix since you\u2019ve just met them. What was it like coming in and realizing that some of these women have years of history between one another?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDefinitely intimidating. I\u2019m definitely an extroverted introvert, and it came out a lot here. I was quite uncomfortable in a lot of these situations. So I just could only sit back and watch it all unfold. I felt like if I were to ever jump into it, it would be honestly inappropriate because these girls didn\u2019t really know me and I didn\u2019t know them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHad you heard anything about the women before filming began? Was there anything you knew going into it?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be completely frank, I started [hearing] about the other women once it was solidified that I was part of the cast. So once the cast was in place, and even before that when there were rumblings of who may be cast, my friend group here would tell me, \u201cWe see so-and-so at the country club, and this is her reputation.\u201d And like, \u201cOh, that girl, she knows their family, and she\u2019s like this.\u201d So from my group here I heard a lot of things about these ladies, which is just proof that it is really one degree of separation.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat were your first impressions of the women?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI was scared to meet Jo-Ellen [Tiberi]. I had heard, honestly, the most rumors about Jo-Ellen and her reputation. She\u2019s kind of a gossip queen, and I was worried about meeting her because of that, and then because she and Rosie went into cameras rolling with beef, and obviously I was friends with Rosie. But Jo-Ellen turned out to be quite friendly and far more approachable than I would ever imagined. Alicia [Carmody] had a bigger personality than I imagined her having. Liz [McGraw] was just as intimidating as I thought that she would be, but then I learned after a few hangs that she can be very sweet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tIn Episode 2, you and Jo-Ellen get together with your kids, and you really open up about your marriage and motherhood. How much did you want to share about your personal life going into the show?\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\t[Jared and I] don\u2019t really have much to hide. We\u2019re pretty open, and I think that kind of became a weird thing. It kind of becomes a thing where I\u2019m just open about everything that I\u2019d be open about, but I don\u2019t really have any skeletons in the closet. So you guys are acting as if I\u2019m not being open, because I\u2019m not talking about skeletons. But the thing is, you\u2019re not gonna find any in there! The dirtiest stuff about us was how we met, back on the \u201cBachelor\u201d days. Ever since we haven\u2019t been very dramatic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re in a really stable part of our relationship. But are we always dealing with having two little kids, and does that put a strain on things sometimes? Yes, especially when we were filming. My now 20-month-old was insane the first year of his life, and he really has lightened up in the past two months. But while we were filming, if it seems like motherhood is stressing me out, it\u2019s because I literally had a child that couldn\u2019t go 15 minutes without having a mental breakdown. And now he\u2019s a delight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat can you tease about the rest of the season?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of the girls that you see not getting along initially will end up getting along, and vice versa. They always say that the \u201cBachelor\u201d season is the most dramatic season ever, and none of those compare to what I lived through over the summer.<\/p>\n

\t\tEven your \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d seasons?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLike, I\u2019ve never seen people communicate with each other in the way in which I experienced this summer. I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes so many times sitting in these situations and I can only imagine that I will represent the audience at home watching.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tCommunicate in what ways?\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSeeing women scream at each other, point fingers in their faces\u2026 I just couldn\u2019t believe the level that some voices can get to in an argument! I don\u2019t know if these arguments are more over the top than your average \u201cHousewives\u201d arguments, but there\u2019s going to be a lot of eye bulging when you watch this. Just like, \u201cOh my God. I cannot believe she said that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tDo you think that since people knew you had been on reality TV, they expected you to bring some of that?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m so convinced that people are going to be disappointed in me from Bachelor Nation, because I actually did not deliver the drama. I\u2019ve always only been dramatic about love\u2026 like, I would only be angry towards a girl if she was coming after my guy. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, am I so boring?\u201d I\u2019m a witness to all this drama and that, in part, is funny. I\u2019m really stable when I\u2019m married, apparently.<\/p>\n

\t\tWe have to talk about the tears, because they\u2019ve become your signature thing ever since your \u201cBachelor\u201d days.\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not one to raise my voice. My classic drama moment in the Badlands on my two-on-one, I don\u2019t raise my voice. I stay oddly monotone at that moment. And that is what I do here. Like, if somebody is kind of coming at me, I just try to explain myself through tears. There\u2019s a lot of that\u2026 And sometimes when I talk about myself, I cry. When I talk about my family or things that are important to me, I just cry. It\u2019ll be interesting to see the way that a Bravo audience takes to me because they\u2019re gonna be like, \u201cWhy is this girl who doesn\u2019t get into fights on this show?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tAs a big voice in Bachelor Nation, what are your thoughts on Taylor Frankie Paul\u2019s paused \u201cBachelorette\u201d season?\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI recorded an hour-long podcast on this today, and it\u2019s such a nuanced thing. Overall, it\u2019s a good thing that they didn\u2019t go forth with the season. That was a decision that should have been made more carefully earlier on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWe knew very much in detail, based on a lot of the interviews that she\u2019s given, exactly what happened in the video and what led to the arrest. You guys did have her on a TV show for four seasons\u2026 It\u2019s an absolutely terrible, terrible video, and the child being there is just awful\u2026 She probably should not have been decided to be \u201cThe Bachelorette.\u201d That wasn\u2019t an appropriate role for her to fill, and probably was not something that she was mentally, emotionally ready to take on for many reasons \u2014 the fact that she was so intertwined with Dakota\u00a0going into it being one of them. So many things to say.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d alum Ashley Iaconetti was announced as one of the seven women anchoring Bravo\u2019s \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":707973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[295088,185,171,36884,36885,295089,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-707972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ashley-iaconetti","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-the-bachelor","tag-the-bachelorette","tag-the-real-housewives-of-rhode-island","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116355909839031934","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}