The Bachelor’s Beverly Ortega is opening up about the health emergency that caused her to exit the ABC reality dating series early.
Beverly, 30, scored a one-on-one date with leading man Grant Ellis during the show’s Monday, February 10, episode. Before her big date, however, her castmate Parisa Shifteh revealed in a confessional that Beverly would “not be coming back to the house” after getting “very sick” the day prior.
During the Tuesday, February 11, episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, Beverly confirmed she got sick while hanging out at the Bachelor Mansion while the rest of the cast was on a group date.
“I take a nap, and I wake up, my stomach’s hurting. I’m like, ‘OK, maybe I should go to the bathroom or the food didn’t sit well.’ And I start throwing up,” she revealed. “I’m like, ‘OK, maybe I just need to get it out, whatever.’ So, my stomach is continuing to hurt. I’m, like, in excruciating pain. I’m continuing to throw up. It’s like a mess. This goes on for 12 hours.”
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Beverly noted that she sometimes experiences nausea during panic attacks due to her diagnosed anxiety, but she was feeling anything but anxious ahead of her and Grant’s date. After also ruling out food poisoning, Beverly was taken to the hospital.
“So after three hours of being in the ER, the doctor came in and he’s like, ‘You have appendicitis and you’re going to need emergency surgery,’” she recalled.
The news was hard for Beverly to process, especially being away from her home and family. She underwent surgery the next day and traveled home to Howard Beach, New York, shortly after the procedure.
“I was really, really sad. Honestly, it took me a month and a half to recover emotionally. Physically, obviously, I was OK, but emotionally, I was not,” she said on the podcast. “I left with the ‘what if,’ and obviously, [Grant and I] were building a connection. He saw and felt exactly what I was seeing and feeling. I know they didn’t show a lot of our moments, but we did have a lot of cute little moments.”
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Beverly went on to note that she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Grant, 31, when she left the mansion. “I was like, ‘I hope he didn’t think that I left just because,’” she stated.
Despite being bummed to end her Bachelor journey early, the decision to go home and recover is one Beverly doesn’t regret. “As you know, eventually, they start flying places [during filming]. So, it wasn’t safe or smart for me to fly as I’m recovering from a surgery,” she explained. “[The show is] long days, late nights, and I was sad about leaving. But once I got home and everything settled in, I was like, ‘Honestly, the best decision was for me to come home and recover because like it was a lot.’”
Beverly’s Bachelor Nation journey may not be over, as she could get a second chance at finding love on season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise, which premieres later this year.
“Yeah, a thousand percent,” she said of whether she’d be interested in joining the cast. “Only because I feel like if I would have made it further, I probably wouldn’t have considered Paradise. But because I didn’t make it that far, yes, because I do want to get married. I’m 30 years old. I’m ready for kids and family. I’ve always been a relationship type of girl, and so that was, like, my intention going on [The Bachelor].”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
