‘Bachelorette’: Charity Lawson and Dotun Olubeko on Making Franchise History and Why Her Choices May Look “A Little Problematic”
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[This story contains spoilers for Charity Lawson’s season finale of The Bachelorette.]
The Bachelorette star Charity Lawson and her season 20 winner Dotun Olubeko are relishing the blissful highlights of their historic but emotional journey.
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During the ABC dating series’ season finale that aired Monday, Lawson accepted a marriage proposal from Olubeko after gently letting down her runner-up, Joey Graziadei, which made them the first monoracial Black couple in series history. Olubeko will be supporting Lawson in L.A. this fall as she competes on Dancing With the Stars, while Graziadei is set to lead season 28 of The Bachelor, which will debut next year.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lawson and Olubeko discussed their future plans as a couple, the drama over Lawson telling both of her final two men that she was in love with them, the importance of their story for Black viewers and the possibility of reality TV stars moving to unionize amid Hollywood’s ongoing double strikes.
Now that it’s been a couple days since the world has been able to celebrate your romance, how has this time felt, and how have you been able to enjoy it?
Charity Lawson: We are both levitating — at least, I feel like I’m just floating. But it’s been so overwhelmingly positive and just all good things. We’re just excited to do normal things and be out. It’s amazing — that love and support from everyone has been so tremendous. We could not be in a better position, how we feel about things and just now ready to take on life together. It’s a good place to be in.
Dotun Olubeko: Yesterday, we had meals outside and just normal stuff, walking the street. It’s really the little things that I think I looked forward to this whole time. We built a foundation, so we just want to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. It’s been great, and we’re looking forward to it.
It’s been noted that you’re The Bachelorette’s first monoracial Black couple. What does that mean to you, and how does that feel?
Lawson: We talk about it all the time. Honestly, it didn’t really fully hit us until the end when it was brought up to us by producers. That was never our objective coming into this. This is not an opportunity to check something off the list. You obviously don’t know what connections you’re going to build and who you’re going to find along this journey. So for both of us, it’s been beautiful, it’s exciting, and we’re just honored to be in that position to be able to make history in that sense, but also for our love story to be shown in its entirety for fans to see. We hope that it just continues to inspire people. I’m honored and excited to be the second monoracial Black Bachelorette [after season 13’s Rachel Lindsay], but also to leave away with this amazing person. It’s huge, and we have a story to tell, for sure.
Olubeko: It wasn’t in anyone’s intention for this to be the outcome. But it is, and we are just so appreciative and understand the gravity of what this means and hopeful that we represented Black love in a positive light, as I believe we did. Going back to our fairy-tale story, a lot of African Americans already feel like fairy tales can be for them, and I hope that this gives hope for people out there. So, really happy about that.
Did you watch the season together, and were you able to talk about the fact that Charity had strong feelings for the final two men?
Lawson: We actually did get the opportunity to watch several of the episodes together, and then obviously when things got a little bit more cemented or difficult, I did just prep him along the way. There are certain parts where he was just like, “There’s no benefit in watching.” So that was towards the end. But up until that point, we definitely did watch most of them together. Every week, I would check in with him and ask him questions of just how he’s feeling and processing the episode. And honestly, also [discussing] what was my experience in real time. As we know, not everything makes [it onto] TV, so just airing everything out and not leaving any room for anything to be unsettled, in that sense.
Olubeko: Charity was instrumental in me surviving that because, obviously, after filming ends, I’m falling deeper and deeper in love. That makes it harder to watch her actually having connections with other people that, in real time, were not too long ago, but it is in the past. But she did a tremendous job of checking with me, asking all the tough questions and just making sure that she understood where we stood and ensure that I feel secure and everything, and I did already, but she just did such a good job. That’s huge for these couples afterwards, is to take that step and make sure that they check in with each other because it’s hard.
Charity, in terms of telling both Dotun and Joey that you love them, is that something you might have handled differently in hindsight?
Lawson: In terms of making executive decisions or choices, no, I wouldn’t go back because obviously it led me exactly to this very moment, and I’m sitting here with the person that I’m supposed to be with. But it’s fair to say there’s a lot that’s at play, and there’s so many different factors. You don’t have all the information that you are given. You have to make the best of what you feel in that moment. With what I had, I did make the best choices that I could make, and I did not want to leave this experience or this journey not exhausting or giving my all to every single person. That’s what I can be proud of.
Looking back, does it look a little problematic, or does it look like, “OK, that’s probably not fair to one person”? Sure, but at that point, you don’t know what you’re going to do. It’s only fair to just go about it and make sense of it and try to navigate the best. And I think I did exactly that.
Olubeko: One thing I realized watching that back, too, is Charity’s strength is in her ability to love. As I’m watching that back, sure, it can be hard, but I know that that’s what I fell in love with, is that ability of her to have the grace and exhaust options. It’s a beautiful thing, and yeah, just really proud of how you handled everything, truly.
You’ve mentioned potentially tying the knot in a year and a half, and that there might be American and Nigerian ceremonies, and also the possibility of ABC airing the wedding. Where are you currently at in terms of the future and moving in together?
Lawson: We are not actively wedding planning because we know that’s a process in itself, so we’re just enjoying this season of life. But yeah, we definitely want to get married sooner rather than later. We don’t want an extended engagement. And yes, the big question about the big Nigerian wedding, mother-in-law whisking me away to Nigeria — it’s happening. We just don’t have a set date right now. But yeah, I’m definitely open to that. And we did talk about the possibility of a televised wedding, but we’re not super sure about it yet. It’s a very intimate and special day, so we’ll just see. We’re taking it day by day. And obviously, with Dancing With the Stars, we’ll be out here in L.A. for some time. So, me and Dotun will be moving in together very soon. I’m grateful that he’ll be out here supporting me, and we’ll be together.
Amid all the turmoil in Hollywood with the dual strikes, there has been a growing push for reality TV stars to unionize. Have you given any thought to that and whether it would seem beneficial?
Lawson: I think it can be beneficial, but also, personally, I just got off of this [journey]. I don’t really know much. (Laughs.) Can’t really speak too much on it, but obviously, I stand with everyone in solidarity with that. So yeah, I don’t know what that’s going to look like. We’ll see.
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Interview edited for length and clarity.
Bachelor in Paradise and The Golden Bachelor premiere Sept. 28 on ABC.
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