'The Bachelorette' Announced as Clare Crawley for Season 16

The Bachelorette has a new history-making leading lady in Clare Crawley, the ABC franchise [...]

By Anna Rumer

The Bachelorette has a new history-making leading lady in Clare Crawley, the ABC franchise announced Monday on Good Morning America. The Bachelor alum, who first came in as runner-up in Juan Pablo Galavis' 2014 season of the hit dating show, marks the oldest Bachelorette in the series' history at 38, turning 39 during the production of the show.

Crawley may have kept a low profile in Bachelor Nation in recent years, but she's remembered for her break-up with Galavis, telling him at the final rose ceremony, "I would never want my children having a father like you."

Crawley then appeared on Bachelor in Paradise in 2015, but didn't find a connection before being eliminated in week three. In 2018, Crawley returned to the franchise for the Winter Olympics-themed Bachelor Winter Games, where she became part of a love triangle with Benoit Beauséjour-Savard and Christian Rauch. While she went home single, at the reunion special, Beauséjour-Savard popped the question, and the two were engaged on live TV.

In April 2018, the couple announced they had split.

"We think the world of each other, and we were both hoping we could make this work," they said in a mutual statement on social media at the time. "I'm sorry that this may not be what you want to hear, but it's our truth. Just know there are no negative feelings here, we are simply two people who believed in love, and were open enough to give it a chance. We still care for each other very deeply (That is why no hate or disrespectful comments will be tolerated about the other)."

Crawley clearly believes in the show's ability to bring people together for love, however, she told Entertainment Tonight in February 2018.

"To me, this show is not about drama. This show is genuinely about bringing people together from all aspects of life and all different places and just having a lot of fun with these sports and these games," Crawley said at the time. "Being able to laugh at each other and to be able to see how each other react in certain situations, it takes a lot of the pressure off of it, and it allows for relationships actually develop in a genuine sincere way."

The Bachelorette's new season will premiere in 2020.

Photo credit: Paul Hebert/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

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