The Bachelor ditched the usual drama this week.
Yes, there was some arguing about suitors and the usual contemplating from Colton Underwood regarding which contestants were on the show for the right reasons.
But then Caelynn Miller-Keyes sat down with Underwood and took the series in an entirely new direction.
A very real, raw and honest direction, we should say.
Siimply put, Caelynn told Colton about the time she was sexually assaulted in college.
The awful incident took place when Caelynn was a sophomore at a college in Virginia.
She told Colton that group of male acquaintances at a party allegedly drugged her wine glass, as well as the drinks of two of her friends.
The next thing Miller-Keyes knew, “I woke up the next morning and I was completely naked in my bed and I knew that something bad had happened,” she told the Bachelor during their date.
We recapped the special episode HERE.
Caelynn explained to Underwood that a friend at the get-together – who had NOT been drugged – claimed that one of the men had had sex with her while she was lying unconscious in the bed.
Moreover, prior to the assault, Miller-Keyes says that a friend alleged that “another guy, I was passed out on a couch from the drugs, and … in front of his fraternity brothers … lifted up my dress, they watched and laughed and took photos and Snapchats.
"It was horrible."
We truly cannot imagine.
Miller-Keyes, meanwhile, spoke to People Magazine about her confession, why she made it on the program — and how she’s doing these days.
“The reporting process is a lot more difficult than people realize," she told the publication, explaining how she was actually turned away the first time she went to see a doctor.
"I had no idea what to do. I was completely stranded, I was completely alone. I didn’t even think it was possible to be turned away from a hospital.
"Thankfully, I had a good support system and people went to a second hospital with me and I was able to get a rape kit and speak to authorities and go through that process.
"But it’s a lot more difficult than it seems.”
Due to the time that passed by the time she got this kit done, the results were inconclusive.
Therefore, only one assailant was expelled… while the others suffered no consequences at all.
“Even though they got away with it, I’m happy that I still fought,” Miller-Keyes says. “I can live with myself and know that at least I tried and I pushed and I went after justice.”
Following the attack, “I took the approach of hiding out,” Caelynn says. “It weakens you. It really does. It was the darkest time in my life.”
Underwood, for his part, listened intently and comforted Caelynn as best he could during their night out.
Colton actually dated Olympian Aly Raisman for a period of time — and she was a victim of Dr. Larry Nassar, who has been convicted of molesting hundreds of women.
"I have had a situation in my past where I was in a relationship in which she was sexually abused… I want you to know that with me, you’re safe," he told Caelynn, adding:
"I can’t even imagine going through something like that. I know talking about it is not easy. The fact that that happened to you is devastating."
He handled the situation as best he could.
But this is about Caelynn, of course, not Colton.
“To allow that weakness to consume you, it will,” she tells People. “So, I decided to change that and channel it into strength. It took me about two years to be able to speak about it. It was a long journey.”
She said it was a "heavy decision" to admit everything to Underwood.
However, she’s glad that she did so.
“As soon as I met Colton, there was this immediate connection and safeness that he created. I truly have never felt so safe and so comfortable in a relationship.
"I knew that if it progressed and if my feelings continued to progress, it’s something that he would need to know about. It’s an important part of a relationship.
"He is such a genuine loving and kind person, and I felt that. And that’s why I was able to open up in that way. I was really grateful how he handled it.”
