The Bachelorette star Gabby Windey's mother, Rosemary Hewitt, has addressed Gabby's comments about their lack of a relationship on the show and how she feels about them.
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Gabby has been open about her poor relationship with her estranged mother ever since she appeared on Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor, which wrapped on ABC in March.
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Now that Gabby is one of two leading ladies on The Bachelorette's nineteenth season, she's finding herself getting emotional when asked to share details about her history and painful past with different men.
The Instagram account @Bachelor_dishes_the_dirt recently posted a video clip from Gabby's one-on-one The Bachelorette date with Erich Schwer in which Gabby shared, "I still have fears built in... I've been hurt so many times by a parent... and my mom, we're estranged. I don't have a relationship with her."
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The post's caption read, "It's hard to see @gabby.windey hurting when talking about her mother. I am happy however she is being open."
Gabby's mother, who lists herself as Rosa Gomez on social media, commented multiple times on the post.
After one fan wrote that The Bachelorette producers will probably bring Gabby's mom on the show to create more drama, Rosa commented, "I will not allow that."
"Believe it or not, I do hurt seeing her hurt like this," Rosa insisted. "I will protect her no matter what. On camera, in the public eye, is not the way to handle this or the healthy way to heal."
Rosa said she is "glad," however, that Gabby "is finally venting" and talking about it.
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"She is on the road to healing, but as someone who has made that journey, she has a long way to go. I love her deeply. And pray for her everyday," Rosa wrote.
The same Instagram user wrote about how The Bachelor brought Matt James' father on the show, which opened up deep emotional wounds for Matt, who had been primarily raised by a single mother.
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After the person wrote it's in "very poor taste to pull those types of stunts," Rosa responded, "I would never do anything to hurt [Gabby]."
"They would need me to agree with it and I won't," Rosa said.
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Gabby first brought up her mother on Clayton's season.
The ICU nurse and former professional cheerleader recalled her childhood to Clayton and explained how her mother had been physically affectionate but then would "flip" and "withhold" her love in an instant, seemingly to make a point or punish Gabby for her behavior.
On The Bachelorette's currently-airing season, Gabby told one of her suitors, Nate Mitchell, that she's very close with her father but not her mother -- and that's a lot of the reason why she is the person she is today.
"I had to be independent, self-sufficient, and really re-learn what it means to be loved, because I didn't totally get it as a child," Gabby told Nate, a single father.
"So for you to step up and want to give that to your daughter, it's amazing."
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But Gabby admitted she's not sure if she wants to be a mother and if that's the life she envisions, probably because of the difficult relationship she had with her own mom.
Gabby later told Erich on their one-on-one date how she had been hurt by her mother so many times and felt she had missed out on parental love.
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"I'll maybe never know what it's like to have a mother's love and it's something that's hard and I'll miss," Gabby told Erich on the July 25 episode.
Gabby, who remains close to her father and grandfather, vented in a confessional, "Am I too broken for anyone to love. I am terrified. What if Erich decides I'm not for him?"
The Bachelorette's next episode, also starring Rachel Recchia, airs Monday night at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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