Rachel Lindsay Wants ‘Bachelorette’ Franchise to Protect Jenn Tran as 1st Asian-American Lead

Rachel Lindsay hopes the Bachelor Nation franchise “protects” Jenn Tran as she prepares for her season of The Bachelorette as the first Asian-American lead.

"Love is inclusive, and it's about time that reflected Asian representation,” Rachel, 38, who was the first Black Bachelorette lead during season 13, told TMZ on Tuesday, March 26. "I am so excited for the young girls and women who will see themselves on screen be adored and revered. They are all deserving of this moment and love. I deeply hope the franchise not only protects Jenn at all costs but allows her to fully represent herself as an Asian woman."

Rachel ended her season in 2017 with an engagement to winner Bryan Abasolo. The pair tied the knot two years later in Mexico and experienced more than four years of marriage together before calling it quits. Bryan, 44, filed for divorce in January, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the cause for the separation.

As for Jenn’s love life, fans watched her start to fall in love with Joey Graziadei during The Bachelor season 28. There was definitely an attraction between the two and their bond grew closer each week. However, the Bachelorette alum, 28, sent Jenn, 25, home while choosing his final four women to take to hometowns. Kelsey Anderson was the woman Joey got down on one knee for in the end, and the couple are happily engaged.

“You can’t really put a time on processing a breakup. I think [you take it] just little by little, and one day you just stop thinking about it,” the Miami native told Us Weekly earlier this month. “It just took a lot of my friends bringing me ice cream and a lot of that.”

One week later, host Jesse Palmer and Bachelorette alum Charity Lawson introduced Jenn as the new lead during After the Final Rose.

"It's crazy. It feels so surreal to be sitting here," Jenn told Jesse, 45, during the Monday, March 25, episode. "I hope I find my person, someone that I truly feel like is 100 percent my perfect match and someone that I'm compatible with. Someone I can have fun and also just like feel like we are each other's person."

The physician’s assistant got emotional after Jesse congratulated her on becoming the first Asian-American Bachelorette, and gushed about how “grateful and honored” she felt.

“Growing up, I always wanted to see Asian representation on TV, and I feel like it was really sparse. Any time Asians were in the media, it was to fill a supporting character role, fulfill some sort of stereotype, and I always felt boxed in by that,” she explained. “I was like, ‘I don’t see myself onscreen, I don’t see myself as a main character.’ And now to be here today sitting in this position saying, ‘I am going to lead my own love story — I am going to be the main character of my story,’ I just can’t help but think of how many people I’m inspiring and how many lives I’m changing.”