The 'Bachelorette' alum left Instagram after receiving 'rude and hateful' comments.
Rachel Lindsay has returned to Instagram after deactivating her account for a few days. On Saturday, the Bachelorette alum posted a photo of sunflowers along with an inspirational quote.
"'I want to be like a sunflower so that even on the darkest days I will stand tall and find the sunlight.' 🌻🌻🌻," she captioned her pic.
On her Instagram Story, Lindsay also shared a video and photo from her "first time hiking" in Los Angeles. "Good vibes only," 35-year-old reality captioned the video of the scenic view.
Last week, Lindsay disabled her Instagram account while host Chris Harrison faced criticism for defending Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell's past racist actions during an interview with the former Bachelorette. Both Harrison and Kirkconnell have since apologized, with the host "stepping aside" from the Bachelor franchise "for a period of time."
According to Van Lathan, the reality star's Higher Learning podcast co-host, Lindsay decided to take a break from Instagram after Bachelor fans were "spamming her with all kinds of rude and hateful things."
"I woke up, looked at my phone, one of the first things I saw [was] something negative and I said, 'You know what? Not today. Not even this weekend,' and currently still not now because I'm still disabled," Lindsay further explained on the podcast. "It was the best decision that I could do for myself to detach from that negativity. I needed that. I feel so much better. I'm not 100 percent, but I feel lighter."
Earlier this week, the executive producers of The Bachelor franchise released a statement condemning the online harassment Lindsay had been receiving.
"As executive producers of The Bachelor Franchise we would like to make it perfectly clear that any harassment directed towards Rachel Lindsay in the aftermath of her interview with Chris Harrison is completely unacceptable," the statement read. "Rachel has received an unimaginable amount of hate and has been subjected to severe online bullying, which, more often than not, has been rooted in racism. That is totally unacceptable."
The statement concluded, "Rachel has been an incredible advocate for our cast, and we are grateful that she has worked tirelessly towards racial equality and inclusion."
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