Hannah Brown says she didn't go on 'The Bachelorette' for fame – but thought contestants 'had hidden agendas'

Courtney Soliday
Updated

Season 15 of The Bachelorette has come to an end, and Hannah Brown has found her happy ending, despite breaking off her engagement with Jed Wyatt.

The former Miss Alabama USA told BUILD Series that she feels she “really flourished as a woman” during the season, even if she didn’t end up with a fiancé.

“I have been through a lot, but I’ve come out on top because I really feel the power I have inside of me, and that doesn’t come from the validation of a man,” she said on Wednesday.

Throughout the season, Brown called out contestants for having ulterior motives beyond falling in love. While the 24-year-old didn’t “come on the show for fame,” she said knew there were people who definitely “see [The Bachelorette] as an opportunity” for fame, including Wyatt.

“A lot of people go back to that first one-on-one we had together where he did tell me that he did not come on this show expecting to fall in love, that he came for his music career,” she said.

She admitted she appreciated Wyatt's candor when told her he came to the show to gain exposure.

“When he told me that, I took that as just being honest because I am not going to sit here and say that this show did not open up a platform for me to be able to reach a lot of people,” she said.

But Brown admitted that she wasn’t without self-doubt throughout much of her experience, especially early on.

“In that moment, I was still battling with some of those insecurities that I had,” she confessed. “I thought all the guys had — even if they were really open to love — they maybe had hidden agendas,” Brown continued. “Which, that’s on me, that I thought that.”

But following the season, Brown is still wary of her newfound fame.

“When I first started getting more than the [social media] followers that I had before, it started freaking me out,” Brown said.

Now that the show is over, she doesn’t want to be “an Instagram blogger/influencer that you’ve ever seen before.”

Instead, “I’m just going to be Hannah,” she said. “There’s so much to learn from what I went through. My highs and my lows and the things that I’ve learned. I want to continue using the support that I’ve gotten and the people following [my] journey to push that message whether sharing my passions, interior decorating and design, or being still in front of the camera or however that may be. I’m really excited about that.”

While Brown ultimately chose herself during Wednesday’s finale, she did leave things up in the air with contestant Tyler Cameron, who she asked out on live TV.

In a Wednesday morning Instagram post, Cameron described his journey with Brown as “something that I will always cherish.” He expressed his gratitude for their experiences together and commended Brown on her “strength and grace.”

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A post shared by Tyler Cameron (@tylerjcameron3) on

Brown said Cameron is “somebody who will always be my biggest fan and my biggest cheerleader.”

While the caption was “really sweet,” she says she’s hoping to keep that relationship out of the spotlight.

“After what we’ve both been through that it’s important that I can keep some things for him and not for other people to know,” she said.

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