While nearly all of the past Bachelorettes reunited ahead of Taylor Frankie Paul’s season 22, a few leading ladies were noticeably missing — and still showed their support with a sweet virtual message.
“There are some people who couldn’t be here, so I have something to show you,” Trista Sutter explained to Taylor in The Bachelorette: Before the First Rose, which aired on Sunday, March 15, before playing clips from her phone.
“Hi Taylor, it’s Jillian Harris here. I’m so happy for you,” season 5 lead Jillian Harris said. “Here’s some advice. I didn’t shave my legs on the very first date and we ended up having a pool party and I ended up on Jason Mesnick’s shoulders with hairy legs, so shave your legs and embrace the moment. Good luck, and I’m sending you tons of love from Canada.”
Trista began laughing as Taylor put her hand over her face and smiled. “Hi Taylor, it’s Jenn. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there today with you,” season 21’s Jenn Tran said, while the Eiffel Tower was visible in the background of her video. “I’m so excited for you. In those moments where I was really pushed past my limits, that was when I discovered some of the most beautiful things about myself. And trust your heart, as cliche as that sounds.”
Trista and 17 former leads — Meredith Phillips, DeAnna Pappas, Ali Fedotowsky-Manno, Ashley Hebert-Rosenbaum, Emily Maynard-Johnson, Desiree Siegfried, Andi Dorfman-Hart, Kaitlyn Bristowe, JoJo Fletcher, Rachel Lindsay, Becca Kufrin, Hannah Brown-Woolard, Tayshia Adams, Katie Thurston, Rachel Recchia, Charity Lawson and Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos — surprised Taylor in the Bachelor Mansion the night of her first rose ceremony.
The group fittingly showed up in matching red, monogrammed sweat sets, which Kaitlyn explained it is because they know “Taylor likes her sweatpants.”
“I’m so excited to welcome her into the sisterhood of The Bachelorette,” Trista said in a confessional. “I’m here with Kaitlyn, Rachel and Ashley and DeAnna and Desiree. Joan is here. We’ve got almost all of us.”
Jen Schefft (season 3), Clare Crawley (season 16), Michelle Young (season 18) and Gabby Windey (season 19) were seemingly absent. Ahead of the reunion, Clare explained why she decided to skip returning to the iconic mansion.
“I was super sick. The producers asked me to come, and I thought about it since it would be nice to see all the ladies,” Clare said in a February Instagram Story, explaining that she changed her mind after allegedly being told “to rehash things from six years ago.” She added, “Hard pass.”
Joan, meanwhile, exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2024 that the reunion was “crazy.”
“It was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I feel like I know them, like, I’ve watched all their seasons, but never met so many of them in person. I’m hopeful for Taylor. She is a genuinely nice human who is unapologetically herself,” Joan said, noting that most of the Bachelorettes are part of a group chat together. “It centers around life events, like, somebody’s pregnant, somebody’s getting married, ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ — just what you send to your close friends. You have this group of people that have done this weird thing that you’ve done. It’s a unique group.”
The Bachelorette season 22 premieres on ABC Sunday, March 22, at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Hulu.
