Julia Rae has found herself in the midst of a love square on The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart. While she went on a one-on-one date with Sheridan Reed during episode two, she also fell for Brandon Mills. Meanwhile, Brandon also sparked up a romance with Savannah McKinley. At the second rose ceremony, Brandon shocked Julia by giving his rose to Savannah, despite previously telling Julia he would choose her. Julia accepted Sheridan’s rose as a second choice, but afterward, Brandon promised her that he wanted to continue pursuing their relationship in the coming weeks. Julia was blindsided once again when Brandon decided to commit to Savannah when the contestants were told that they had to couple up or leave during episode three.
As the show has aired, Julia has been criticized for leading Sheridan on, but in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife, she revealed that there was much more to their relationship than viewers have seen. “I was very honest with Sheridan,” Julia explained. “I’ve been very honest with him about the fact that I still had feelings for Brandon. Unfortunately, you haven’t seen that Sheridan and I had a very deep connection ourselves. I think I was very confused. I felt I could have handled the situation way better, but I was leading with honesty because I didn’t want to disrespect Sheridan, even when it was hard to tell him I was feeling something for Brandon.”
Julia insisted that she definitely cared for Sheridan and had a good time with him when they were together on the show, even if it didn’t seem that way. “In order to take the stage the way that we did…we had to have a connection,” Julia explained. “I wish you guys were able to see more of that — more of us rehearsing together, playing music together, and getting to know one another. I certainly connected with him on such a deep level and I shared things with Sheridan that I don’t normally share with people I’m dating that early on.”
Meanwhile, the love square drama led to some tension between Julia and Savannah on the show. At one point, Julia even confronted Savannah and accused her of being fake. Luckily, that’s all in the past now. “As soon as filming was over, I reached out to Savannah,” Julia admitted. “I called her and apologized immediately. My anger and frustration in the situation with Brandon was completely misdirected at her, and I take full ownership of than and am very sorry for that!”
We’ll have to see how the drama between these four plays out as The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart continues. The show airs on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.