The Bachelorette star Gabby Windey has revealed if she's talked to her estranged mother Rosemary since the show began airing.
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Gabby also explained why she's been so open with her bachelors about the estrangement and how a lack of affection and love from her mother growing up has affected her.
"You get a limited amount of time with these guys. So on our one-on-ones is where you really have to get down to the nitty gritty so they can understand who you are, how you're gonna be in a relationship," Gabby said.
"And, of course, our parents really influence who we are as adults and how we act in relationships and our attachment styles and things like that."
Gabby said it was important to her to be "transparent" with her The Bachelorette suitors.
"I have done a lot of work around my childhood, and sometimes it's hard feeling the feeling of being loved because it applies to a romantic relationship, you know?" Gabby shared.
"It's hard because it's almost like, 'Gosh, I have to get everything out right now.' But also, I need these men to really know who I am and understand why I am the way that I am."
Gabby was candid with Jason Alabaster on Monday night's The Bachelorette episode about how she sought therapy to help her deal with the emotions that stem from having a lack of a relationship with her mom.
"My mom and I are estranged. She didn't have the capacity to kind of, like, love me as a kid," Gabby told Jason.
"And she was, like, really quick to take away love, like, 'Oh, if you don't do this and that, you'll have to go live with your dad.' And it's like, I don't ever want to lose my mom. That was so scary for me. And then when I left for college, she washed her hands of me and didn't want anything to do with me."
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWGabby went on to explain how "a ton of therapy" helped her to learn how to "allow people" to love her.
"Because I never had an example of receiving it as a child. I think the hardest part is, like, I love her so much, but you can't always -- she just can't be in my life," Gabby said. "She just doesn't have the tools to love me back."
Last week, Gabby's mother spoke out about The Bachelorette footage and Gabby's apparent broken heart.
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."
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."
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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.
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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.
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]," shutting down speculation she will appear on this season of The Bachelorette.
"They would need me to agree with it and I won't," Rosa said.
Gabby has been opening up 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.
The 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 to a young girl.
"So for you to step up and want to give that to your daughter, it's amazing."
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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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, August 8 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
