‘The Bachelor’ Joey Graziadei Was ‘Supportive’ of Daisy and Kelsey’s Finale Decision: ‘That’s Not My Story’

The leading man and winner Kelsey Anderson tell TheWrap about keeping their engagement under wraps and their future plans

The-Bachelor
Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson in "The Bachelor" Season 28 finale (ABC)

“The Bachelor” Season 28 finale prompted overflowing support for both Daisy Kent and Kelsey Anderson, who banded together ahead of Anderson’s impending proposal. And Joey Graziadei feels the same way.

“I was supportive,” Graziadei told TheWrap of the finalists arriving to the proposal site together. “That’s not my story, or my decision. They have their own stories, they should have the ability to craft that day into what they want as well … I’m going to be supportive of whatever these women decide to do.”

As the final two women prepared for their potential futures with Graziadei, Kent had suspicions that he would be proposing to Anderson. After the women spoke candidly about their final dates with ABC’s leading man, Kent and Anderson drove up to the proposal site in the same car — marking a “Bachelor” first.

“There was much going on in that moment, I honestly can’t fully remember whose idea was to get into the car together,” Anderson told TheWrap. “We both wanted to be there for each other on that car ride, because it was a big moment. We got to really support each other in those big moments that were very different for each other.”

Kent then approached Graziadei first, telling him she knew his final rose pick wouldn’t be her. “She had her own intuition,” he said. “She handled it in her own eyes.”

Graziadei didn’t find out that the women arrived together until after the engagement. “That’s when we had the ability to uncover the day and talk about how she was feeling going up to it, and then that’s when I got the insight that they actually had a whole moment in the car together,” Graziadei revealed.

As the new couple kept their engagement under wraps as the season of “The Bachelor” rolled out, the pair leaned on counseling provided by the show to strengthen their communication as they had been physically apart.

“It’s great to do couple’s counseling when you’re in a good spot, because then you get to build off of it — that was always the recommendation that we got,” Graziadei said. “We’re still learning a lot of new things about our communication styles — especially virtually, there’s so many things that can make it difficult — so we’ve been so grateful for that through this process.”

In the meantime, Anderson had a private Spotify playlist titled “J” that reminded her of Graziadei and their relationship, while Graziadei admitted Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s “Anyone but You” made him think of his future wife.

“They have banter at one point during [the movie] and I texted her, ‘This is kind of like us. I like it,’” he said. “I’m sappy, so any type of song or movie if there’s some type of love in it, I’m always gonna think about her.”

After Graziadei visited a group date for “The Golden Bachelor” ahead of starting his own “Bachelor” journey, he and Gerry Turner had a full circle moment at Monday’s “After the Final Rose” live taping.

“We love that they were there,” Graziadei said of Turner and Theresa Nist. “Gerry made sure he came up to me and gave me a hug and said, ‘I’m proud of [you]’ — it was a special moment.”

“I talked to Gerry very quickly,” Anderson added. “It was all hectic afterwards, but he was really sweet. He said a lot of kind words to me, and just was telling me that he and Theresa need to do a double date with us, so I’m excited for that.”

Anderson also mentioned that she looks forward to spending more time with former “Bachelorette” Charity Lawson and her fiancé Dotun Olubeko, as well as former “Bachelor” Zach Shallcross and his fiancé Kaity Biggar. “We are lucky that we’ve come off of this many seasons in a row with really successful couples and they have all been so supportive and great to us,” Graziadei reiterated.

As the couple looks to the future, they are planning to move to New York City by the summer.

“It’s such a fun place to be able to date and have fun,” Graziadei said. “Obviously we’re engaged, but we are going to be dating and enjoying the process of it all.”

“The Bachelor” Season 28 is now streaming on Hulu.

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