Trista on Break-ups
This month, The Bachelor's Jesse Palmer revealed he's broken up with Jessica Bowlin. The rest of the reality-dating series' leading men — Alex Michel, Aaron Buerge, Andrew Firestone and Bob Guiney — have also left their Chosen Ones in Splitsville. Meanwhile, The Bachelorette's leading ladies — Trista Rehn and Meredith Phillips — are holding on to their men. Why have the guys gone wacko, while the gals keep their relationships together?
"I have no idea," claims Rehn, who was reportedly paid $1 million to marry Ryan Sutter on prime-time TV. "I don't know that there's a magic potion. It may just be the luck of the draw that Meredith and I found who we were supposed to be with, and someone was watching over us.
"For each of the relationships, there were different reasons," she adds. "I don't know if it's because it's TV and the media craze that happens afterwards, or whether [the other couples] were really ready."
Speaking of media frenzy, life hasn't been the same for Rehn, a 31-year-old former physical therapist, since doing The Bachelorette and tying the knot in December. She now lives in Sutter's hometown of Vail, Colorado, where he still writes poetry, works as a firefighter and trains for the Iron Man Triathlon World Championship taking place this fall in Hawaii.
"I never would've come to Colorado if it weren't for Ryan," she says, "but I came because I had nothing tying me down. I probably would still be working as a physical therapist, but I get recognized everywhere, whereas before, I never had to smile all the time and worry about what I looked like when I stepped outside the house. I've never had reporters show up on my doorstep. I've never had rumors made up about me, like me being pregnant! No, I'm not pregnant."
Still, Rehn's hardly camera shy. The newlywed has "no regrets" about those televised "I dos," which paid for her three-story house in Vail. Rehn's also still seeking TV hosting work, although she says she's turned down gigs that require relocating to L.A. "If something comes up, I would like to pursue it," she notes, "but my priority now is Vail and my husband."
