Vanessa Grimaldi Says She 'Didn't Want to Get Engaged' to Nick Viall on The Bachelor

Vanessa Grimaldi Says She 'Didn't Want to Get Engaged' to Nick Viall on The Bachelor

Vanessa Grimaldi is opening up about her televised engagement to ex Nick Viall.

During an appearance on friend Taylor Nolan’s podcast Let’s Talk About It, Grimaldi revealed she was hesitant to accept Viall’s proposal during the season 21 finale of The Bachelor.

“I didn’t want to get engaged. They didn’t air this,” she said. “I had a conversation with him, and I said, ‘Listen, wouldn’t it be better if we just date outside of the show and then get engaged? Because that’d be more meaningful. We’d get to know each other.’ “

But Grimaldi said she decided to say yes after Viall, 39, suggested that the engagement was a symbol of their commitment.

“He said, ‘I know to you it could be just a piece of jewelry, but there’s so much meaning towards us leaving engaged because there’s going to be so much attention,’ ” she recalled him saying. “There’s going to be so much backlash on us once we’re done with the show. At least this is going to hold us so much more. It’s going to hold us together. It’s going to hold us together more than it’s true. ‘Cause you have, like, something you’re working towards, right?’ “

Vanessa Grimaldi and Nick Viall | David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Vanessa Grimaldi and Nick Viall | David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

She added: “And I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t picture him as someone that I could’ve potentially grown with.”

Though the former couple ultimately called it quits five months after the finale aired, Grimaldi acknowledged that the proposal helped keep them together.

“I think if we weren’t engaged, we would’ve broken up sooner,” she said.

At the time of their split, Grimaldi opened to PEOPLE about the heartbreak.

“Nick and I were always transparent about the challenges in a relationship,” she said. “We certainly had ours. I fell for him hard, and when you fall in love that hard, your heart breaks even harder.”

RELATED: The Bachelor‘s Vanessa Grimaldi Makes Her Relationship with Josh Wolfe Instagram Official

Vanessa Grimaldi Instagram
Vanessa Grimaldi Instagram

But Grimaldi has since moved on and is currently dating Canadian businessman Josh Wolfe.

During the podcast, she said her Bachelor Nation fame helped her find Wolfe.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “I really do believe everything happens for a reason. Listen, if I hadn’t gone on to the show, I don’t know if Josh would have slid into my DMs.”