‘Bachelor’ Alum Opens up About Fight to Stay Alive During Recent Health Scare

The Bachelor star Carly Waddell shared a health update on Instagram Sunday after she was rushed to the hospital on June 14. Waddell said she started having “really bad intestinal cramps” when she was waiting in line to get on a plane, comparing the feeling to having contractions. Waddell, 35, starred on Chris Soules’ season of The Bachelor in 2015 and starred in the second and third seasons of Bachelor in Paradise.

“I know you guys are wondering what happened to me on Monday [June 14],” Waddell said at the beginning of a 15-minute video she shared on Instagram. “I was waiting in line for the plane [and] started having some really bad intestinal cramps. And when I say really bad, they were what I would compare to contractions. They were unbelievably bad.” She said the cramps “kept hitting and kept hitting,” to the point it felt like she could not breathe. The pain was so intent that she felt hot and nauseous. She could not even see or hear at one point, she said.

Waddell made it on the plane, but as it was about to take off, she suddenly got up from her seat and passed out. Another passenger caught her before she fell to the floor and she regained consciousness. Afterward, the fire department arrived to take her out of the airport in a wheelchair. They asked her if she wanted to go home, but decided to take her to the hospital instead because her blood pressure was alarmingly low.

On the way to the hospital, Waddell began feeling like she had to fight to stay alive. “I could tell my body was giving out,” Waddell said. “And I had to talk myself…’This is not the way you go out.’ I was laying there with my eyes closed and pep-talking myself into staying alive.” While she survived the ordeal, Waddell said her doctors still don’t know exactly what happened.

“They basically still don’t know what was going on,” she told fans. “They said it was probably a virus or bacteria that just got me and got me really good. Ever since that day, I’m still having really bad intestinal cramps but they’re not like they were. But they’re not great. And randomly getting nauseous.”

Last week, Waddell’s estranged husband, Evan Bass, revealed that Waddell had a medical emergency. He shared a photo of Waddell in a hospital room. “Carly’s first ambulance ride – she’s gonna be ok and, my goodness, this brings back some memories,” Bass wrote, referencing his own health scare on Bachelor in Paradise in 2016. Bass thanked fans for their support, adding that Waddell spent nine hours in the hospital. “Continued thoughts and prayers are so appreciated. And she knows she’s beloved,” Bass wrote.

Waddell and Bass met on Bachelor in Paradise Season 3. In December 2020, the former couple announced plans to get a divorce. They are parents to two children, son Charlie Wolf, 1, and daughter Isabella Evelyn, 3. “We will always cherish our time together and continue to have the utmost respect for one another as we focus on what’s best for the future of our family,” the two said in a statement at the time. “We greatly appreciate everyone’s love and support and kindly ask that you please respect our family’s privacy as we navigate through this.”