Celebrity News March 27, 2024
Michelle Young Reacts to Jenn Tran’s Historic Bachelorette News (Exclusive)
“The Bachelorette” alum Michelle Young and her BF Jack Leius are enjoying a bae-cation at Sandals Grenada!
During their "amazing" all-inclusive vacay, “Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with the couple, who dished on the romantic trip, as well as their reaction to Jenn Tran making history as the first Asian lead of “The Bachelorette.”
Michelle said she was “incredibly happy” for Jenn, noting, “It’s pretty difficult position to be in when you’re in that position of representation… That’s something, you know, Rachel Lindsay, Tayshia [Adams], and I myself have experienced, and there’s moments where you might not be the fan favorite. In fact, Bachelor Nation is not necessarily reflective of the representation of love across the board, and so I think it is really special to get the opportunity, and I hope that people give grace and understanding to that role and the pressure that it carries and give her a chance to showcase herself.”
Michelle has had “conversations” with Jenn and says, “She’s so down-to-earth, so hardworking. Her intentions are in the correct spots, and she has a lot on her shoulders and she’s definitely there for the, oh my God, 'right reasons.' She’s definitely there to find her person, and she’s a great person to be in that position.”
Young stressed the importance of people being “open to seeing other types of love stories.”
While some fans wanted to see Daisy Kent or Maria Georgas be the next star of the franchise, Michelle pointed out that Jenn is “equally as deserving as anybody else."
Michelle also had wonderful things to say about Joey Graziadei, who just got engaged to Kelsey Anderson on the season finale of “The Bachelor.”
Michelle and Jack connected with Joey at Gerry Turner’s “Golden Bachelor” wedding. She said, “We always have been big fans of him… I know all the little things that go on behind the scenes, but it’s just really nice to see that he’s happy. There's that point where you get to the end of the road where you're no longer in hiding, everybody knows what happened. You're finally with your person. You can go out to eat, you can do all these different things with that person you spent time with and truly get to know them."
Jack added, “He deserves that. He’s, like, the sweetest guy… so down-to-earth. He, like, took the time to just kick it with us.”
Michelle added that they’re excited to have double dates with Joey and Kelsey!
As for their own love story, Michelle and Jack started dating after being introduced through Michelle's best friend's little brother... who Jack knows!
They believe there was an “invisible string” tying them together all along!
She said, “When we were starting to talk, we both grew up in Minnesota, we both played athletics… we have a ton of mutual friends… We crossed paths at so many different times, but I went through a huge public breakup. He was also going through a really hard breakup... We were in the same area, we went to the same events, but we never crossed paths until we both were actually at a point where we were ready for a relationship.”
Jack chimed in, “When it happened, it happened. We hit the ground running… We just connected so well right away. We spent the whole weekend together and it was just like, 'Alright, yeah, we're gonna be together.'”
Jack admitted to having watched Michelle on "The Bachelor," and confessed, "I watched it with my ex... She had made like a sly comment, she was like, 'Oh, she's kind of your type and she's from Minnesota.'"
Jack said he never watched Michelle's season of "The Bachelorette" but recalled, "I would see photos of her everywhere, and I always thought she was so beautiful."
He explained, "I just got the sudden urge when I saw her on my friend's story to swipe up on it. I was like, 'Hey man, you've gotta introduce me to Michelle.' He thought I was joking... So then like a day later I texted him individually... He was like, 'Okay, let me see what I can do,' and then I met her the next night."
Of their stay at Sandals Grenada, Michelle shared, "Jack and I have been to a few all-inclusives this year, but when we touched down in Sandals in Grenada, it's been so welcoming... We didn't realize how much of an exclusive experience it is."
In addition to praising the food, Michelle raved, "The resort is beautiful, it's so clean, but we're truly going to miss the actual people, the workers, the friendships we've made."
Jack echoed, "It's been incredible. The people here are just, bar none, the best people. They are the sweetest people and their island is so beautiful, and they just welcome you into it."
Michelle also filled us in on the work of her new nonprofit, the Michelle Young Foundation. She shared, “It’s been so busy… This has been my baby for a very long time. It’s something I have wanted to do to launch my own nonprofit. Without the platform, I probably wouldn’t have launched it for a few years, but I’ve been able to take the time and put different pieces into place… I’m very excited."
She shared, "We're starting our Homework and Hoops program. We literally fly home from Grenada and I'm already curriculum planning, I'm already figuring out which lessons, which basketball players are coming into the community to help us out... It's all about underprivileged students. It's all about everything Minnesota-based, using my networks with the Lynx, with the Timberwolves to be able to bring them in to give these underprivileged students a chance to learn from those role models."
Get more info at http://themichelleyoungfoundation.org.