Ali Fedotowsky Manno says she'd feel "fear" for her daughter if she wanted to go on "The Bachelor ."- Manno stepped back into "Bachelor" nation in 2019 to cohost a podcast with Rachel Lindsay.
Ali Fedotowsky Manno has changed her mind about how she would react if her daughter told her she wanted to go on "The Bachelor" one day.
While speaking with Insider to promote Pebbles' "Never Stop Doo-ing" project, Manno said that she used to think that if her five-year-old daughter, Molly, came to her in 20 years and told her she wanted to be on the hit reality dating show she'd tell Molly to "go for it."
"It changed my life. It could change your life, too," Manno said of her initial stance.
But internet culture has changed since 2010 when Manno was a contestant on Jake Pavelka's season of "The Bachelor" and lead of the sixth season of "The Bachelorette," which aired the same year. Manno said she'd now feel "fear" for Molly, because "the poor girls on the show now — and men, but mostly girls though — are just under so much scrutiny in the public eye" and "it's so hard on them and their mental health."
She referenced the latest episode of "The Bachelor," in which contestant Cassidy Timbrooks is caught on camera telling fellow contestant Sierra Jackson that she's recently been FaceTiming with another man.
When Manno watched the drama, she said her first thought was, "Oh no, that poor girl is going to get torn apart on social media," and she would never want her daughter to go through anything like that.
She told Insider she realized during the short time she co-hosted the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast with fellow former bachelorette Rachel Lindsay that "bullying" online "is so much more intense now" than in 2010 when Manno was trying to find love onManno said she realized she was putting herself "back out there in this 'Bachelor' nation world to be really picked apart" by fans. "And it hurt my heart," she added.
Her former cohost Lindsay, who remained on the podcast for another two years, faced increasing racism so intense online that "The Bachelor" producers tweeted a statement of support in March 2021 calling for it to end. Lindsay left the podcast and said she would be stepping back from the "Bachelor" world in April 2021 to maintain her mental health, per Access Hollywood.
As for Manno, she said she would "never say never" to returning to "Bachelor" nation but called women who have remained involved, like Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams "strong people," adding that they do their jobs with "grace" and she's "so proud of them." But the blogger's own goals have moved beyond "The Bachelor" franchise.
Manno got engaged to her "Bachelorette" season's winner, Roberto Martinez, in the finale, but they broke up by November 2011 after more than a year together. She met her current husband, radio and podcast host Kevin Manno, while they worked together on a travel show called "1st Look." The couple welcomed their daughter Molly in 2016 before getting married in 2017. Their son Riley arrived in 2018.
And now, Manno has partnered with Pebbles for its "Never Stop Doo-ing" initiative, which aims to encourage kids to be creative. Children from around the country were asked to submit their original artwork and select pieces were chosen to be a part of murals displayed in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and the Manno family's home city of Nashville.
Manno was excited to take her daughter to see the Nashville mural so that she'd know "the sky's the limit" on her creativity and dreams.
Pebbles' "Never Stop Doo-ing" murals are up in select cities until January 13.