Here's how the 24-year-old went from beauty queen to the 'Bachelorette.'
Hannah Brown introduced herself to all of us on Colton Underwood's Bachelor premiere as Miss Alabama 2018 -- but now she's leaving her crown behind.
The 24-year-old Tuscaloosa native's pageant past was front and center during her time on The Bachelor, with her old Miss USA beef with fellow contestant Caelynn Miller-Keyes taking center stage on the ABC reality show. Miller-Keyes wasn't the only one of Underwood's women to have competed against Brown in pageants, however. Throughout Brown's nearly 10 years in pageantry, she also went up against Hannah Godwin for Miss Alabama 2017.
Here's how Brown went from beauty queen to the Bachelorette:
Early Pageant Roots
Brown started competing in pageants at age 15, in the local Alabama circuit. She placed first runner-up in Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen 2010 and was second runner-up in Miss Alabama Teen USA 2011. She was crowned Miss Tuscaloosa in 2012, and competed for Miss Alabama in 2013, but didn't place.
"#tbt to Miss Tuscaloosa 2013! This year has truly been a blessing and I'm so thankful for the opportunities God has given me to serve my community with this title," she wrote in July 2013 alongside a black-and-white throwback pic.
Break From Pageants
After being crowned Miss Steel City in 2014, Brown appeared to take a break from the pageant circuit as she focused on her studies at the University of Alabama. The blonde beauty instead turned her attention to university -- and sorority -- life, joining Alpha Chi Omega as well as PRSSA and other organizations. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in communication in 2017.
Back at It
Brown returned to the pageant world to compete in Miss Alabama USA 2017, but didn't place. Godwin -- who also appeared on Underwood's season of The Bachelor -- was first runner-up. Brown kept at it, however, and ended up winning Miss Alabama USA 2018. From there, she competed in Miss USA against Miller-Keyes, who was Miss North Carolina USA 2018.
Brown chose a platform of mental health awareness, explaining that her previous struggle with anxiety and depression was the cause of her hiatus from pageantry, but didn't end up placing. Miller-Keyes, who was her roommate for the competition in Shreveport, Louisiana, won first runner-up. The pair become fast friends while competing for Miss USA 2018, but we all know that didn't last.
Worlds Collide
Brown's friendship with Miller-Keyes fell apart, but the two reunited last fall for night one of Underwood's season of The Bachelor. Both big frontrunners at the beginning of the season, their pageant feud reignited, with both Brown and Miller-Keyes telling Underwood they thought the other was manipulative, and not a good fit for him. (Curiously, Brown's pageant history with Godwin was never brought up).
While Miller-Keyes hinted that Brown's jealousy at her placing higher than her in the competition might have led to their falling out, neither would give a specific reason for why their friendship turned sour. After weeks of fighting over Underwood's affection, they agreed to put water under the bridge on the Jan. 31 episode of the show. Brown lasted in the competition just a few weeks after that, sent home by Underwood on the Feb. 18 episode of The Bachelor (she returned home in time to crown her Miss Alabama USA successor last November). Underwood -- who ended up picking Cassie Randolph -- said goodbye to Miller-Keyes after her hometown date, airing Feb. 25.
Miller-Keyes explained to ET at The Bachelor: Women Tell All that her and Hannah's falling out just had to do with "little things that built up." "We're different people, and I know that's such a vague answer, but it's just little things that we both realized in each other, and we were like, 'Maybe we're better off not as friends.' There's not this big dramatic thing that people are expecting happened," she offered. "She didn't [steal my shoes]. There was no big thing. We're just different."
"We did have beef. We don't as much anymore," Hannah said. "We really did [squash our tiff]. And it wasn't talked about again."
Brown, who worked as an interior designer after college, ended up overcoming her villainous image on The Bachelor enough to be in the running for Bachelorette. While Miller-Keyes told ET she wasn't so sure about the gig, Brown couldn't have been more for it, and was announced as Bachelorette No. 15 on Underwood's After the Final Rose.
"I was the villain. I was the emotional trainwreck," she told ET at her first official Bachelorette photo shoot in March. "I didn't just coast through at all. I wasn't just coasting in the back corner, that's for sure."
"I wanted it so bad and I felt like it could be me, but, yeah, this never happened before," she added of her becoming Bachelorette without even making it to Underwood's final four. "I think I'm just real, and that's why it's me, and I want to continue that. And I promise that the man that walks through that door, they're gonna see me, and I'm going to expect that in return."
Brown's season of The Bachelorette premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Join ET's Bachelor Nation Facebook group here.
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