Yahoo Lifestyle Former "Bachelor" Nick Viall Said He Was "Self-Conscious" About The 18-Year Age Gap Between Him And His Fiancé Natalie Joy
Former Bachelor Nick Viall, 42, proposed to his girlfriend Natalie Joy, 24, earlier this year, and now the two are opening up about why that almost didn't happen: their 18-year-age gap.
During a recent interview on Taylor Lautner and his wife Tay Dome's podcast The Squeeze, Nick revealed his hesitation about dating Natalie, while Natalie admitted she knew they'd end up together.
Nick and Natalie first crossed paths online in late 2019. He turned her down "so many times" when she first tried to get to know him because he was taken aback by how young Natalie was.
Nick was 38 at the time, while Natalie was 20.
“We started messaging [online], and I carded her,” Nick said. “I wanted to make sure she was a real person. The age for me was something I was self conscious about.”
Despite initially telling Natalie that they "would never date," the two eventually started dating in the summer of 2020.
“She slid into my DMs," Nick added. "We messaged for a couple of weeks. We met up in New York. I think we were both thinking the other person was a little crazy. We kind of both knew we’d end up spending the weekend together. I think we were both pretty guarded.”
That weekend was all it took for Natalie to know she met the one: "I knew after that weekend, I was like, ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this man.’"
"And I knew it and he didn’t. So I was like, ‘I’m just going to hang on because he’ll come around.’ So I asked him several times to date me.”
