'Bachelorette' Charity Lawson is looking for her 'happily ever after.' Look back at the franchise stars who are still together after finding love on the show.
Trista and Ryan Sutter, Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo are among the MVPs of "The Bachelor."
The Bachelor franchise is supposed to help its star find lasting love with a partner who, like them, is ready for it. But even if they're there for "the right reasons," many of the relationships formed at cocktail parties at the mansion or on dates scaling a building don't work out.
But some of them do! As The Bachelorette returns for a new season on June 26, with Charity Lawson handing out the roses, we're looking back at the leads of the show who walked away from it with their person. (So not the many couples formed by ex-contestants who fell in love on a spinoff such as Bachelor in Paradise.)
While the odds are against Lawson, she can take heart in the fact that these former leads of the show are still with their choice:
Ryan and Trista Sutter
Trista Rehn found love on the very first season of The Bachelor, which starred Alex Michel — or at least that's what she thought. After he ended things with her on the April 2002 finale, Trista went on to become the OG star of The Bachelorette, which debuted in 2003. And it really worked out for the better, because that's where she met Ryan, the firefighter who stole her heart. He, of course, received the final rose.
Their marriage was documented in a three-part series later that year. They've continued to pop up on the franchise over the years, as proof the sometimes awkward process can work. The Sutters now share two teenagers (!): son Maxwell and daughter Blakesley.
Jason and Molly Mesnick
The Mesnicks, who met on the 13th season of The Bachelor, which aired in 2009, starred in one of the most controversial moments in the show's history. Mesnick, who had finished second on DeAnna Papas's season of The Bachelorette in 2008, proposed to contestant Melissa Rycroft at the end of the season. But then he told her — on TV, of course — that he'd changed his mind. It was brutal. He's been with Molly ever since, though, and they got married in 2010. The two share a 10-year-old daughter, in addition to Mesnick's older son (with his first wife), who's grown up a lot since he was featured on his dad's season.
Sean and Catherine Lowe
Sean was the third runner-up on The Bachelorette in 2012, but he landed his own season the following year. At the end of it, he chose... Catherine Giudici, and that's where he found his love story. They married in 2014 and share three young children — two sons and a daughter.
Chris and Desiree Siegfried
Desiree Hartsock finished a disappointing fourth on 2013's Season 17 of The Bachelor, which starred Sean Lowe, but it led to her being chosen as the star of The Bachelorette, which debuted just weeks later. That time, she actually did find her soulmate in Chris Siegfried. They married in 2015, and they've since welcomed sons Asher, 6, and Zander, 4.
Jordan Rodgers and JoJo Fletcher
Fletcher's first attempt at finding her match, on Ben Higgins's season in 2016, didn't pan out, and she became the star of her own season of The Bachelorette in 2016. Her pick: former NFL quarterback Jordan Rodgers, who happens to be the younger brother of current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. She tied the knot with Jordan in May 2022. They said in an interview this month with Us Weekly, where they were promoting the new USA reality show they're co-hosting, The Big D, that they're talking about having children. "The kid conversation is definitely at the forefront of a lot of our talks," she said.
Bryan and Rachel Lindsay Abasolo
In the summer of 2017, Bachelor Nation watched as Rachel, who had previously been a contestant on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor, fell head over heels in love with Abasolo on her very own season of The Bachelorette. Their relationship has only deepened since then, and they were married in August 2019.
In 2021, he defended his wife after she, as a correspondent on Extra, interviewed Bachelor host Chris Harrison about a scandal that embroiled contestant Rachael Kirkconnell (more about that below).
Arie and Lauren Burnham Luyendyk
In 2012, Emily Maynard sent Arie home on the finale, but the race car driver, ahem, rode on to star in his own season of The Bachelor in 2018. He ended up proposing to contestant Becca Kufrin, a move he quickly regretted. It was awkward when he ended it on the finale, and he then turned around and proposed to Lauren on "After the Final Rose." But they've managed to stay together longer than most couples from the show.
Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell
These two survived serious controversy very early into their relationship when, as the show premiered in January 2021, photos of Kirkconnell surfaced showing her attending an antebellum plantation-themed fraternity formal in 2018. In addition, a TikTok user made unverified claims that Kirkconnell had bullied her for dating Black men. Kirkconnell publicly apologized, and James, the first ever Black Bachelor, ended up with her. In the After the Final Rose special that aired in March, James said he had realized that Kirkconnell "might not understand what it means to be Black in America," which was an important part of understanding him. They were done. But a few weeks later, James and Kirkconnell were rumored to be spending time together, though, reportedly just as friends. In May 2021, James confirmed that they had coupled up again, after she asked him to commit fully or simply move on.
The Bachelorette Season 20 premieres Monday, June 26 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
