The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - The Secret to a Good Profile with Hannah Brown

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Ben and Ashley are hanging out with one of our favorite Bachelorettes, Hannah Brown! We hear how things are going with her fiancé, and what happened when he told her he knew about her “secret Tik Toks”. Plus, Hannah opens up about what it was like reuniting with Tyler Cameron on his new show, and we get all the details on Hannah’s new romance novel!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Almost Famous Podcast Today we have a, like we know we say this a lot But we have a very special guest Like she's exclusive. she's like it's hard to get her okay and i'm like a little giddy i'm i put makeup on for this like everybody knows that when i put makeup on for an interview it's like okay this is like a bachelor a lister yeah so so for example if ashley and i just do an interview with each other i've

never seen her with makeup on like 100% like a roll out of bed anyway but don't say anything our guests don't say anything you're giggling in the background which i like that tees but look what we have that I cut vegetables on on the regular I f***ed in a windmill and guess what we did it a second time on a freaking cutting board okay now you can speak

hi Hannah I didn't know they made I didn't know they made those but I'm glad you got it was I don't know during your season somebody sent this to us and it is my favorite cutting board and then Jared and I are always like at

what point do we have to hide this because like Dawson will be able to read. Well, I'm glad it's a quality cutting board. It is. Yeah. Hi, Hannah Brown. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you all? We're so good. We're so good. We have a lot to talk to you about today.

You are as usual doing I wouldn't say a lot because a lot makes it just sound like you're doing a lot. You're doing a lot of things well right now. And you have been. Like you don't lose like ever. You know, I really need to hear that now because sometimes I'm like, what am I doing? But yeah, right now I do feel like I'm doing a lot. Well, I want you to add well, though.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. So this is where I want to start to show, though. We're going to talk about the podcast. We're going to talk about the book. We're going to talk about life now. Your move and all of that.

But I was driving today and I was like, what is the thing that I want to know from Hannah? like, what is it that I want to? Because what we've seen from you is, what we've seen from you is you dominated, uh, kind of the, the media circus that happens after the show and you did it so well. And you,

you went on to compete in a couple other shows and do those so well. And then something interesting happened this summer is when you went to paradise and I felt like everybody loves you so much. And that's great. But they were like really hyping you up. And what I thought, was that has to be kind of hard for you because it's like people are holding you to a very high standard. And granted, that's a gift that they, you know, even do that. But I want to know

to start this thing off. Hannah Brown, can you give us an example so everybody out here feels like you're human of a time in the last two years or recently that you have lost, that you feel like you fell short, that something hasn't worked out to your plan? Oh my gosh. It's so interesting. like to hear other people talk about you in a certain way, it's very different than the way that I view myself, and I'm trying to really work on that. Like, I guess, I'm trying to think of, like, what an instance is. There's a lot of, like, just self-talk that I always feel like I'm not doing things well.

You failed at nothing. You have a really hot fiancé, too. Your personal life is thriving. No, oh my gosh. That's so, like, you. Yes, I have the best fiancé and I'm so thankful for my personal life being at the place it is now. There's so much behind the scenes and hard work and failures in the process of a success. I feel like that sometimes just people don't see or don't assume or, you know,

I'm in such a shit show of emotions that I can't present at that time. That's normally what it is. If you're not seeing me, it's because I'm unwelled. point of like people will be like do we do we need to like intervene or something going on no like I've had those moments all in between um but just continue to like go through I mean one example I can have because I think it's so funny for me now because I have had some of these successes very like it's almost bizarre to me that people like think of me as like winning because in my past even before like I did pageants I competed in pageants for like years and years and years. And before I won Miss Albany USA, like I didn't even place in the top 10 for years, which like usually people

like, you know, you play or you, you know, you're always like creeping up and then you eventually like do your time and you win the thing. And so I, I remember going to that pageant that I won and the being in the car and be like, why am I doing this to myself again? And my mom being like, well, like, you know, you're like a first place loser.

at this point. Like, I had just gotten so good at just being able, being like, I put myself out there and I've worked so hard and then just, like, not seeing anything, like, come from it. And then having to kind of, like, deal with how that made me feel about myself. So it's funny because, and even when I got to Miss USA, like, I didn't place at all, like, um, and I was just, I was just, honestly, like, just happy to be there because before, it just it was almost like just a true dream come true and um kind of given up at that point and to now people being like thinking of me as somebody who just like wins everything because I

really I didn't I showed up I will say I think I show up um but I've had a lot of of things in my life and even just like personally like feeling definitely not like a winner I've just had some of my like moments of actually achieving the thing on TV um and so that's what people I guess just think of that's just like not the case behind the scenes um and like everyday life things everything that I do right now I'm like you know whether it's the podcast or the book I can I always think I could be winning more in some in some way um yeah what is it about TV that makes you win like is that the pressure is on i think so um i think the things that i've done i go into okay actually i know this sorry i like start sentences don't finish them i do that too it's really

bad and i'm sure that that's one of the reasons i initially related to i was like i love how this girl just like just talks with her mind what am i saying i don't ever know but um i I feel like real life is really hard for me. But when I'm put in like certain like weird situations where like I'm bubbled and there's only one thing that I can think of, it's kind of like there's only one sentence I can finish at one time versus like all the other thoughts in my head going on. If that made any sense, probably not. But I feel like when I'm in like controlled space and there's like one mission, I can really hone in on that.

and just be dialed in and nothing else matters. Like genuinely nothing else matters. And I'm like, I'm just doing this dance show. I'm just doing this survival special forces show. I'm just doing this thing trying to find love. Like I just get really focused in. And that's not real life though. Like there's always going to be distractions and things that come up in different feelings

and different situations going on all around you. So in real life, like I don't always win. but when I have something that's just like one thing to focus on, I do well with that. What's the thing right now? Like what would you be focusing it on? I mean, I know the book comes out May 7th, but, you know, I've walked through the releasing of a book process you've obviously have as well. It's hard to like really figure out, I feel like how to like focus in on the releasing of a book. Like you do the media, you do the prep, you do the everything you need to do to kind of make it work. But once it's out there, it's out of your control to kind of focus on. It's

up to people to buy or not to buy, to read or not to read. So maybe that's it. Maybe you're finding out a way to focus in on this better than I did, and that's why your books are so successful. But right now, what is like taking up your main focus? The book really is taking up my most of my focus right now. I'll like do anything and everything to just have people hear about the book. But like you said, it is, it's different. And there's like, it's, it's nuance and it's not just like this is a certain way that you win or get people to sell the books like it's it's not like people have so many other things that they're competing I'm competing at so many different authors so many different ways that people can like use

their time so it's not the same type of thing and this is actually been something I really talk a lot about in therapy because like I said real life even just like real work life is harder for me because it's not so like this is the thing that you do. Everything else stops when you do these shows. And I do great in that, but that is just not real life and not even real like work life too. So I don't really have anything else because that's like that other than when I'm doing a TV show that I feel like, man, I can like, I can do this.

So I guess somebody's got to find me something else to be on. that's funny okay so you had god bless this mess your basically autobiography come out a couple years ago and now this is a romance fiction novel it's called mistakes we never made how is it promoting a book that's all about like your personal story versus one that is pretty much made up it's such a different experience for sure i feel like the first book was definitely more um it was it was harder in in different ways too like more emotionally exhausting it was very vulnerable to have to like show up and be like this is my story from from and and from my account of everything that's happened in my life and and then have everybody kind of like judge that

or see you differently and in some ways it was really great um for the most part I feel like people actually got to see like me more as a full person. But that was really vulnerable and hard. Where this project is really hard is that, yeah, it's creating a whole universe and having to like really work that creative muscle. And it took a lot of work just like trying to make plot points and plan everything out and make sure that um this world really felt human and real so very different experiences but both i think the importance and um in both of these projects is still truth so obviously that is my true story

but in in this fiction book um this work of fiction i think what really makes it resonate with people is where if it's coming from a place of truth and so the thoughts and the feelings and the doubts and the way that these characters work come from somewhere that's really real inside of me and so that's kind of where they they both intertwine as different pieces of work is it based at all on any of your real life romances um so i i like to say that it's not just one person but there's little sprinkles in of like some greatest hits in my life oh cute yeah yeah i was i mean one of the interesting things here about writing fiction is this is coming from your imagination or your fantasy or your your life experience kind of leading

up into one how like how long did this story do you believe not in its entirety but kind of maybe in its moments live inside of you until now it's coming out in this full form um gosh I would say when I it's been years because I always wanted to get into writing in some way it's like the big dream that I had thought of, some of the things that I've been able to do in the past few years were things I couldn't ever ever dreamt up, like could have never imagined that I had the opportunity to do. But I always had a big dream of writing some type of novel. And this project kind of came to me. And because when I like had my first meeting with an agent, like right after the Bachelorette and they're like, what do you want to do? Of course, this was like,

I'm like, I don't know what I want to do, but here's like this big dream I have. So it's been a long, like, process, started on a similar idea that ended up not working out. And then came back to this about, I don't even know time at this point. I feel like it's been probably around two years. But parts of this book and idea have been like in my brain for, you know, since probably like, college at some point. But I also had, and always want to credit the help that I had. I had a co-author Emily Larrabee that really helped be able to take all these seeds of ideas and thoughts and the type of characters that I wanted to create to really make a well, um, thought out, organized story.

Because as you can tell, I can barely talk. This is what she says, but I think that you're very articulate. I think you express yourself amazingly. Thank you. But it was really great to be able to work with somebody who, you know, as a professional like this and done this for years and years and her help challenge me and help poke holes in things and be able to really like make something whole and beautiful. And I'm really, really proud of this book and what we've created. security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth. Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock a prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs.

Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was overwhelming and you don't know who's next to you. And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Everyone say, hello Ed. Hello, Ed. From a very rural background myself, my dad is a farmer,

and my mom is a cousin, so, like, it's not, like... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different.

On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. Well, 22nd of July 2015. A 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage.

Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA.

Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny, you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught, and I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases, to finally

solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, and in session 421 of therapy for black girls, I sit down with Dr. Athea and Billy Shaka to explore how our hair connects to our identity, mental health, and the ways we heal. Because I think hair is a complex language system, right, in terms of it can tell how old you are, your marital status, where you're from, you're a spiritual belief. But I think with social media, there's like a hyperfixation and observation of our hair, right? that this is sometimes the first thing someone sees when we make a post or a reel is how our hair is styled.

We talk about the important role hairstylists play in our community, the pressure to always look put together, and how breaking up with perfection can actually free us. Plus, if you're someone who gets anxious about flying, don't miss session 418 with Dr. Angela Neil Barnett, where we dive into managing flight anxiety. Listen to therapy for black girls on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you were to summarize or to sell it to the listeners and, you know, a short period of time here, what can, like, why would they want to pick this book up? Outside of it being from

you and them loving you, what about this book do you think they're going to engage with? I want people to really get, to kind of go on this journey with the main character, Emma, who really struggles with, which I think a lot of a struggle with, like knowing like where it's our place, why we kind of respond and react the way that we do towards things, especially big things like love and really get that. I think one of the scariest things that we can do and one of the things that can lead,

we can think can lead to the most mistakes in life is taking that risk for love. And that it's never wrong to make the mistake along the way to finding real love and peace and happiness. And that kind of goes to what I was saying. We were talking about earlier about like all the things that I've done in our life and like winning, losing all the things. I think it's just showing up and doing it scared and believing that the other side of it, you're either going to learn you're going to learn from it or grow for a most in weight or you could just like really find like the love of your life so take the risk and make the

mistakes yeah how did you meet the love of your life how did you not meet um on a dating hat oh really which one um hinge wow you two both on hinge like you too both on hinge like jackpot so what was how did the first date come about was he like one of those guys that prolongs the messaging oh no no it was like the second message so i got tired of stuff i was doing like one of my friends like we're done with all this and she booked me a trip to cabo and she was like we're getting you back out there we're doing the thing and she made me the stating profile one night like over a glass of wine we did the whole thing and go to covo we put out the the profile and I got really lucky like I've been thought okay I'm just

going to like make content about this and this will be great people like I'll just go on these dates and talk about it and I started doing that and they were doing really great and it was really fun and then I had own popped up on like the profile and I actually liked his photo first and I liked the one photo because but on each of a profile, we had a picture on the same street that ended up being the street that I was living on at the time. So I liked that photo. And then he saw my profile and saw that I had a photo on the same street. And he was like, oh, you're on my street. And I was like, wait, you're on mine. Like, I live here. So we ended up living three houses down from each other. Whoa. And it was so cute. And I had just moved. But when I started the profile, I was there. And so anyway, but it was still like down the street. and yeah he like that was our little conversation and he was like hey I'd love to get to know you better like you want to go get a drink this Thursday and I was like perfect so yeah he was very direct and I love that I would be like any advice I have for like anybody on the apps like that is so important

like we don't have time to just go back and forth on this app we need to like see each other or at least get a voice memo or something going because you can't do that. So when did he bring up or did you bring up like, okay, elephant in the room, you know I was the bachelorette because you're not like really like one of those bacheloretts that you can just, you couldn't hide that you were the bachelor like like the country knew Hannah Brown was the bachelorette. Yeah. So he did not know who I was at first.

Like when he saw my profile, he just like, oh, like I had a really good profile. we'll see that. It was good. I had all the different handings you needed in there and like it was it was top notch but um he was like I don't know there's just something in me that was like I'm going to just try to like type in like the stuff that I know about you from your profile and of course he sees who I am like it's like a few minutes before he goes into this date and what's seeing that I was making these videos of going on these dates about these guys, I would go to the bathroom during the day and not what was going on. And he was like, okay, like, he knew it was happening.

It was so funny. He didn't say anything until I go to the bathroom. And he goes, are you going to leave your phone there? Are you taking the phone with you? And it was very obvious he had like seen the video. I was like, oh, my God, I swear. I was like, I haven't videoed anything with this. And I, I hadn't because I saw him.

I was like, ooh, like, I immediately like, well, like, I, just want to like see this one through um so then of course we talked about it but i still don't think he really understood bachelor nation or the show that much i mean of course he had heard about it but didn't know like how that would be a part of our life and our journey um until we really got into it because i kind of kept our relationship to ourselves um to myself for a while and then he really got thrown into it. There's a lot here that I

first off, you know, I'm sure there's so many saddened that that profile couldn't have lived a little bit longer and had a little more lifespan, especially since it was so good. It kind of sounds like it came and went. Second, I've never met Adam. I'm assuming he's a very good man

if he literally held on to the secret of you filming these dates until the perfect moment. I love that move. What a great move by him. What an incredible just like, yeah, you don't, you don't scare me, Hannah Brown. When did you know he was the one? Like, it wanted to hey you that this was not only something you wanted to pursue, but something now that you wanted to commit to? Gosh, I don't think it was really a moment. For me, I have always I think from the show I'm so thankful for it totally but there was a lot that that hurt me

in between or there were stories that I was starting to tell my tell myself about love who I am um yeah it was it was it was hard and even when I met Adam I wasn't I was trying to like move on but wasn't really looking for a long term thing at the point like I just I thought there something like broken about me and and I was I had a lot that I was dealing with and one of my main stories that I tell myself is I'm a burden and so that's why I really like can close up and isolate and I only want people to see me when I'm good and I knew I was like I'm not good like I can I can like show up for a date but like as somebody really is coming into my world right now like it's it's not um awesome and i i only i thought that the only way somebody can love me

is if i can show up those ways and he really showed me through our first most our first like until like this past year like first three two and a half years of relationship was really hard and he showed me that i was lovable at in any way that i showed up and when i was at my app absolute worse. Like he loved me and showed up for me and was there for me. So it really was like not a moment, but just the consistency of him showing me that I was lovable and worthy and even at my like absolute lowest of low. And that just made me realize like, oh, this is somebody that I want to do life with and have like really great times with and be able.

know that we can get through really hard times too my my final relationship question here um how is that experience from him and this can happen vice versa i'm sure if he was sitting here too he would say that you've done the same for him in so many different ways but we're talking to you now so we're going to focus on you how has uh his consistency in allowing you to show up in whatever space you're in proving to you that you are lovable um how has that changed you or not changed you now, like as you sit here today as a person? Oh, it's changed me so much.

Like, really knowing that, I mean, it was the first time that I really knew and believed that I didn't have to perform for love has been just, like such a huge experience or even like in love in any way love in relationships of course romantically but also in the relationships with with friends with family like the love that I deserve is to be able to show up as I am and be vulnerable in that way and that there are people that will love me um for who I am and as I am in that time and we'll ride the ways with me and, but also challenge me. I think that's, it's not that like Adam is somebody that just allows me to be in a, you know, in all the, he allows me to be in the emotions, but he does speak truth and light into who I really am,

even when I don't feel or believe those good things about me. He always, like, tries to lift me up. And so it's really changed the way that. I view what like love is just in general like that my definition of love has changed so much. What I believed it was to fall in love with someone or be in love with someone is like a totally different experience. I've had to really relearn and it takes a lot of work and especially if you have like a tough background when it comes to like love like what love was like in your in your household and your like previous relationships there's a lot of unlearning that

has to be done and it can be really painful and hard to like gosh realize like what you think about yourself or how you've continued these patterns and but man, I've just had like a rock with me the whole time. And he's also like, like you said, Ben, like he has its own stuff. He is, he is great and awesome, but he is not, he is not perfect. And it's been really cool to also go on this journey with him to be able to call out the things in his life that he's believed, believed about himself, whether that's being broken or a burden or whatever and really be able to lift each other up together.

It's, it's been really cool. And I'm so thankful, really. This is so special. I'm just so glad that you've gone through this and that you have each other. Why did you guys decide to make the move to Nashville versus L.A.? Yeah, so we met in L.A., but Adam had lived here for seven years before he lived in L.A. for a bit. And I always thought I would end up in Nashville because I'm from Alabama. My hometown's like three and a half hours away.

Oh, that's easy. that's nice yeah it's great because it's still like it's like booming but there's a lot to do but i also can be close to my family um and it was so weird we we had an amazing place in san monica like i know i remember seeing it on instagram all the time it was beautiful it was so beautiful um the rent was absolutely insane to be honest like it was it was crazy And I, but I was like, this is where I want to live, but we need more space. And it went from our crazy rent to like, you know, a lot of million dollar house, the $8 million houses. I'm like, I'm not there.

Spoiler, I'm not there yet. And I was like, what are we going to do? Are we going to keep just like spending this much on rent? like but then I don't want to leave this stamp this place but I always had like Nashville in the back of my mind and we're like okay we're like look we can always come back here we're thinking about our lease was coming up doing something else and Nashville came up in the conversation and then we are right we're going to sleep on and then the next day Adam gets a call from an old employer in Nashville asking if he wanted to get back into his old job and that like just seeing if he would if he'd be interested in like what our plans were so it was so weird literally the next day that's and then yeah we ended up being like well this is a sign and he's not even still with that job but that's what brought us out here and yeah I really love it I had a hard time this summer I mean this winter because it was dark and you were seeing all your friends in

LA and it's so nice oh I know I get that was really hard but like like now you know i'll have one good month of nice swimming you'll have way more than one well it does get super hot and humid there but still it's better that than you guys are wild they complain about any weather i'm sorry i had four foot of snow two weeks ago yeah but you like it that's your i'm here for gerard i can never see snow again i can never see snow again and be happy i i i hate the cold i agree yeah i want to be warm i actually i just want to be like in a nice 65 with a light breeze at all times, which is L.A. So I'm like, I miss that a lot, but the community is really great.

National is a great place. You're going to love it. I think Nashville fits you. Yeah. It seems like you're like Nashville Barbie. I'll take that. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm still like trying to like get, I mean, we've made some so many great, great, great

friends here but um still trying to like get involved in the community and stuff but um yeah it makes sense it totally makes sense i'm still like super southern to the core but i want i love being in a place that have like a lot to do and um offers a lot as far as just like for our future and i'm happy But I'm going to LA next week until I get my little fix and then I'll come home. I do that too. You'll learn to love it more

when you can only be out there for a week. Trust me. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth?

Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him that. the next six months. The first night was so overwhelming.

And you don't know who's next to you. And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello, Ed. Hello, Ed.

I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer, and my mom is a cousin. So, like, it's not like... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago. I'd just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear.

Well, 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a country? Comedy Club. A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it.

They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases. But everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught.

And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's crime lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors. And you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, and in session 421 of therapy for black girls, I sit down with Dr. Ophia and Billy Shaka to explore how our hair connects to our identity, mental health, and the ways we heal. Because I think hair is a complex language system, right? In terms of it can tell how old you are, your marital status, where you're from,

you're a spiritual belief. But I think with social media, there's like a hyperfixation and observation of our hair, right? That this is sometimes the first thing someone sees when we make a post or a reel is how our hair is styled. We talk about the important role hairstylists play in our community, the pressure to always look put together, and how breaking up with perfection can actually.

actually free us. Plus, if you're someone who gets anxious about flying, don't miss session 418 with Dr. Angela Neil Barnett, where we dive into managing flight anxiety. Listen to therapy for black girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, I have two questions, kind of back to back, but it starts with one and it's going to end on the other. I'm hearing your story now, since we've talked. talked about your book and this main character Emma in your book. Is Emma you? Like it sounds like a lot of what you're talking about when it comes to your insecurities and your your relationship with Adam and then kind of your move and your thought process on life. It sounds a lot like what

you're teasing for the book. Yeah, she's a part of me. So the way this book kind of all came about was actually through the female friendship in the book. I really, I think one of the greatest loves your life can be with your friends. And so it started with the idea of this core for this group of girls in the book being different parts of who I am. I mean, there's an obvious character like Nikki, who was one of the girls in the friend, in the girl group. like she was the um the lead on a show called love by where it was a dating show there's there's sybil who's kind of the one that just floats around and can't really commit to things and can be um just interesting kind of complicated but like lovable and then there's emma

who's definitely the part of me that kind of feels like I have to have things figured out that sometimes has a need to control, has a lot of like stuff in their past that just she needs to tackle head on because it's really showing up and how she's like not able to fully give into a relationship.

So, yeah, it's, she is a part of me, but not, not me at all at the same time. Like, this is a totally a work of fiction. But like I said, the thing that connects this book, so even like my last book is you have to write from a place of truth. I can't just like make up anything. Like, how are people really going to connect that if I can't connect to it? So the feelings and the thoughts that Emma have are definitely thoughts and feelings that I have or have had in my past. So you talk about this book then and you're entering into it.

You have a very successful podcast. You've just made this big move in life. You are the winner of so many things, especially on national television. It really feels like your sweet spot. Hannah, how do you go about making the decision to enter into stuff or not then? Because even with this book, it sounds like it's vulnerable. Like you're going to release a lot of your inner thoughts, your inner feelings. And if all these characters are a piece of you in some way,

people are going to get a more, you know, an even larger perspective on you as a person. So when you have all these opportunities kind of laying in front of you or all these decisions, How are you going about making the decision to say yes or no to them? Yeah, I've had to get a little bit more clear on that. As I'm trying to just figure out, like, who the heck am I, not who people like have labeled me to be or thought of me to be. I think I got a little internally, at least a little loss in that of what people liked about me versus who I actually was.

And I'm just trying to make sure that everything is in alignment to who, like, I really am. And if it doesn't feel right or align with, like, my core values or what I want to be able to put out in the world, or challenge myself in some way to see myself in a different light, but, like, that is kind of how I base everything. like when I did like special forces for example like that was really just to I was in such a place like I kind of alluded to earlier like not in the best place especially like belief in myself of what I was capable of I was going through some health stuff too so it really it pushed me to know that I was like much more capable than I to do things than I believed in myself to be um so if it comes from something like that really just like challenging myself to push myself more like I'm I'm totally down for that but it just has to be in alignment to who I actually am and if it's not then I don't want to be a part of that because honestly like I don't know how to fake it uh it doesn't work out for me um that's why I either am going to show up and it's going to be like really messy

or I just like don't show up at all and maybe sometimes I just really nail it on the first go but that is too far between. But to ask me to be something that I'm just not, like I can't do it because it'll be really, really bad. That's why everybody loves you, though. That's why you were one of the greatest bachelorette's because you cannot fake it. There is not like an ounce of you being able to act.

And that's why I wanted you to be the bachelorette so bad. Because watching you on Colton's season, I was like, this girl is so me. Like, and that's what so many girls out there I thought. because like there's very few times it just seems like so many girls on the show are so poised and they're just so comfortable

around the guy and I'm like what? No, yeah not me but then it's weird because then you get in these experiences and then you feel like like I've always struggled with this when I was and Padge was like I won myself by being myself I became

the bachelor by being myself but then there's like this thing like this like these little whispers inside me that are like want me to try to change or I feel like it was a fluke or they don't know what they really don't. They actually really don't want to be with me. People are disappointed and that's when that is when that friction comes. That's when I really struggle when time and time again, the times that I've really been successful was when I haven't let those whispers and thoughts get in my head and I've truly been able to just be like, this is me.

And if you don't like that or it doesn't resonate with you, that's okay, like somebody else with will. But it's been definitely, sorry, I keep moving so. It's definitely been a cycle. No, it's because of my freaking toes, but then also this, I've talked about this way too much. Your press door. But I had an end of the toenail removal surgery and my toes hurt, but I'm trying to like sit. there's just a lot going on so i can't sit with just my legs straight with my feet on the floor i hate that it's the worst same so when i have a podcast i like sit on my legs they're crossed i'm like up

high i'm down low i cannot just sit like you would on a plane which i think is why i hate same yeah well i don't even sit on the plane like that and it's but i i'm sitting in a place that's usually comfortable for me but then i have the ingrained tone else that's not i'm like this is I shouldn't be sitting like this. Okay, this is a great transition to some fun, yet very, very juicy questions that I have lined up for you. Okay, perfect. Okay, we'll start with like the least juicy. When you found out that Nick and Tyler were both doing special forces, were you like these mother effers like they can't, they can't, well, they can't win?

I was, I was interested to see how they did for sure. because it's such a like mental thing and um i don't know i don't know nick that well at all but with tyler i i figured physically he would be able to do this stuff but i was really interested like mentally but was i was completely shocked and i found that big both one too i was like you got to be like this is this is wild but i just had to run myself i did it first i know and how funny were those jokes where they like line all three of your you know um your pictures together and it would be like, what do they go through on The Bachelor that makes them so good at this? I'm telling you, though, it really did.

Like, I noticed that so much on the show, like, because we're like such a bubble, I don't think they will really realize, like, what it's like to be on The Bachelor, Bachelor. Like, you have no control over anything. Like, you don't have a phone. Like, people are really having a hard time, like, not having access to their phone and being able to reach out to people or it's a. social, the bachelor bachelor is like a social experiment in a lot of ways. And so was the show. So I think it really prepped me for that. Like I said, just being like totally focused on one thing, whether that's

a relationship or just surviving a desert. I do think that it prepares us all pretty well. Obviously, it has. Especially with that like vulnerability. emotional aspect that they put you through yeah but it's um you know like with the shows that we've all been on like producers are like super involved in it we're like yeah there is not any producers like i truly survived by being like okay you're there you're you are still on a tv show even though it doesn't feel like it like it feels like i'm just left with these really big scary not going to die you are not going to night there are cameras at least i do see cameras they're not going to let me die

where the producer interaction is, like, so huge on, of course, like, any Bachelor show. So, like, that was a big difference. But as far as, like, psychological warfare, different, but the same. Okay, so I was listening to you on the She's All Batch podcast, and they asked you what would have happened if Adam was on your season, and you had a – it was a great explanation, but like you know go go ahead and listen to that if you want but i want to ask you what would have happened where would your life would have been now if you picked tyler over jad i don't know i i genuinely i don't know um i think it would be a miracle we were still together

I think they're that's just I give props to people like you actually that have been able to like I think it's a really hard way to start a relationship and you have to like really love and like the support each other in that it's just been my own experience that I like really admire people who have and truly believe that those are people that were supposed to meet each other and that's what the show is for people like you guys um but for a lot of us, it's a tough way to start a relationship. So, you know, I really, I don't know how to answer that. I think what I talked about, she's all batch is like what I mentioned, like the thoughts and the way that I viewed myself as a lead, I definitely obviously had moments of like strength and like coming to know who I am, which really started on the bachelor's. and say I had like baby deer feet, I was just like being like, oh, well, I actually can do this, but then was like tore completely down and really started thinking of myself in ways that

weren't really helpful for being able to really know the people that were genuinely there for me or not. And even believing that there were people that were actually there for me, it's a really interesting thing to like when you break it down, that the person that I ended up choosing with someone who was honest with me about his intentions not being there, but that resonated with me because that's what I believed. I believe that nobody was there for me. So I was like, oh, at least somebody's being honest. So I'm going to pick that guy. And not to say like me and Jed, we had chemistry stuff, but like he, that was where my mind was. So like, who knows who

I would have been with or what would have happened with anyone on that show. Yeah, I guess we got to throw Peter in there too, because you also had like the lingering feelings with Peter and we saw like you were on his season for a second. But also in the way that things happened with Tyler, I actually feel like you did in a way get to sort of pick him or experiment what life would been like with him through the COVID house and then through just what happened on after the final rose and all that. like you you kind of got to to vibe that and it probably wouldn't not have been right yeah yeah i think so i also i have like great um i just have compassion or that time of my life

for myself for him for everyone involved and you know he obviously was going through so much too and probably weren't the best versions of ourselves during that time but that just it didn't didn't work out. And I'm like, you know, I grew so much from that. I learned. I think it honestly, like, all that propelled my, my healing journey to be able to really find the love that I have now. So, yeah. Yeah.

Okay. My last question is, like, I can't believe this is how it turned out for you. This is the weirdest thing. That your sister-in-law is now the person that was dating jet. at the time. Like, is it still really weird? They've been married for a little bit now, your brother and her.

And it's just like, is that something of the past now? Like, how do we get along? I don't even know how you remember this stuff, Ashley. I like, you're saying this. I'm like, what she'd go? Oh, yeah, I forgot that that was even a thing. But, like, also, maybe it was all meant to be because your brother found love.

I mean, that is how I have to have to be in at this point. but like also I think we all know and I can say this like we're in a much better situation now but like it was messed up like it was I had a really hard time with it of like for sure it was weird but like they are married now and she is a part of my family and honestly like they really are they have a really great relationship and she loves him very much and I know my brother really loves her and um my brother has been through so much and it's been in a lot of different seasons of life that were not that were really hard to watch and and and not be able to like see him living his best life and now she's in his life and I feel like he it's it's really

cool to see where he is so like for that even though it was really really hard and there was there was time there that was really tough like I'm very happy for for them and yeah it's been it's but it was a wild like plot twist that uh this is just interesting for sure too bad you didn't well maybe you did have it in time for your book that'd be a wild twist in the book feels feels like a very fictional story I was in it I was in it in the book but it was not to the time um it wasn't the best like of times to be i was still very much processing at all yeah okay good well nobody that can live in your household that doesn't need to be out there for the world to read you know a couple of years later like it's cool like i'm you know it's happened a while

you know it's they've been married for a while now but i really am i really do admire all the work they've done their relationship and how they show up for each other. It's really cool. My final question for you before we send you off back into the world to do all the great things that you were doing is we've seen a teaser of you on Tyler's new show. I'm curious how that even happened. And then going back to the question of how you process your yeses and knows, how you said yes to it. And give us a little teaser from your perspective. yeah so um wow there's a there's a there's a there's a lot there was a lot kind of going on at that time

that um i was really and i still do i love interior design actually before i was on um the bachelor and when i was in college i was i had kind of decided i wanted to get into interior decorating design but I was about done with college so I just graduated and then just started like apprenticing so that's what I was doing before life changed fully and so um it's always been a passion of mine and I still don't like own a house yet so I haven't really been able to like show all the stuff that I can do and um anyway have a lot of ideas for being able to get back into that world in some capacity. But he reached out to me about the show and was wondering if I would want to be a part

of it. And it was great to be able to, first of all, I think that was a way that we were able to like really just move on, support each other in our own ventures, but also be able to like showcase something that I'm really passionate about. And he gave me the opportunity to do that. So I was like, this will be fun. Um, it was great to be in Florida for a few days and be able to work with, um, the, the clients. They were awesome. And it was actually a really great time. I had, I had a lot of fun. And it got me

excited to be able to continue hopefully in the future being able to, um, really get back into that passion of creating, um, beautiful spaces for people and for myself. how did Adam feel about you being so close to him? He, we know where we're at in our relationship and like I, that season of life, like, I feel really like, it's over. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't, we weren't, we engaged yet. But like, I knew, obviously, like, we had decided, like, we were going to, we were.

we're in it together. This is my life partner. And so he, trust me, was excited for me to be able to have this opportunity to kind of do a passion of mine. And, yeah, so he's cool. He's supportive of me. But, yeah, I mean, I think I answered that.

Well, this was, we could talk to you honestly for at least another hour about everything going on in your life and like you're just such an interesting and self-aware person. So it's always fun to talk to you. Hannah Brown's book, mistakes we never made. Coming out May 7th,

make sure you go check it out. It's going to be an incredible picture of who Hannah is creativity-wise. And also it sounds like we need a better perspective of who Hannah is a person in all of her many facets. Hannah, thanks for joining us. Thanks for coming to Almost Famous Podcast.

Keep up the great work. Keep showing up. We enjoy. Thank you. I really appreciate it. You're so fun to talk to. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hi, my name is Enya Jumanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime. crime junkie, and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy Truthers believe in...

I guess they would be conspiracy theorists. That's right. They gave you the answers and you still blew it. The puzzler. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Honey German and I'm back with season two of my podcast. Grazias, come again. We got you when it comes to the latest in music.

and entertainment with interviews with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities. You didn't have to audition? No, I didn't audition. I haven't auditioned in like over 25 years. Oh, wow. That's a real G-talk right there. Oh, yeah. We'll talk about all that's viral and trending with a little bit of cheesement and a whole lot of laughs.

And of course, the great vivras you've come to expect. Listen to the new season of Dacias Come Again on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Our I-Heart Radio Music Festival, presented by Capital One, is coming back to Las Vegas. Vegas. September 19th and 20th. On your feet. Streaming live only on Hulu. Ladies and gentlemen. Brian Adams.

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