Haley Stevens is sharing her story -- and revealing what she wants to tell the woman dating her ex on TV.
Haley Stevens has a message for Hannah Brown.
The Nashville musician spoke to ET's Lauren Zima on Thursday in her first on-camera interview since coming forward about her relationship with Bachelorette frontrunner Jed Wyatt. Earlier this week, Stevens publicly claimed that Wyatt was her boyfriend of four months when he headed off to film the ABC dating series, and alleged that he planned to return to her after the show.
Stevens said Wyatt -- who admitted on a previous episode of The Bachelorette that he came on the series with the intention of promoting his music career -- left for the show and never called her again. Now, she has a message for the woman he's dating on TV.
"Be true to yourself," Stevens said. "She's confident, she's held her own from everything I've seen and heard and read. She is holding her own."
"In the short bits of things I've seen about Hannah, she is really freaking strong," the singer told ET, revealing that she's experienced some of what she imagines Brown has dealt with, as far as hateful comments on social media. "People comparing and just questioning her decisions... she has handled it with grace and strength and stayed true to herself, so I have no doubt in my mind that she took care of [the situation with Wyatt] in what way was best for her."
According to Stevens, Wyatt told her three weeks into their relationship that he was in the casting process for The Bachelorette; he allegedly explained that he only planned to make it to the top five. In an exclusive screenshot of her alleged text conversation with him as he's leaving to Los Angeles to start filming, he tells her he loves her and says that it's "always working out."
Stevens said she felt "embarrassed" when Wyatt returned from filming without contacting her. While she was in love with Wyatt, a fellow Nashville musician, and was left heartbroken by the situation, she told ET that she understands how he could form a connection with Brown.
"I said, 'You could really fall for this person,'" Stevens said of her alleged conversation with Wyatt before filming, tearing up. "This is a person I'm very much in love with, telling me, 'I love you, I'm not going to fall for her.' And in hindsight, there are so many parts of this that... this was the first person I had ever said I love you to."
The musician said she only came forward in an attempt to tell her story. "My message in this is not in any way negative toward anyone or trying to be hurtful to anyone. It was solely that people were saying they were going to tell my story -- me, real girl, real life -- and I wasn't going to have any control of that. It didn't seem fair that nobody was going to stand up for me here," she explained.
Watching Wyatt on The Bachelorette has been painful for Stevens, who is trying to heal from her heartbreak and channel her emotions into new music. She has stayed away from much of the season. "Somebody else asked me, 'Do you think it's real? If they're together, do you think it's real?' I really, really hope so -- and I hope that he was honest,'" she shared.
"This is a person that I loved that could just be engaged to someone else, so, that's not easy, but if they are [together at the end of the show], I hope it's real and I hope it's right," Stevens added. "That's really all I can say."
See more in the video below.
RELATED CONTENT:
