ABC‘s The Bachelorette has announced its newest leading lady, who will be the fifth Black lead in the overall franchise.
Charity Lawson, who many saw compete on Zach Shallcross’ The Bachelor season, has been named the lead of The Bachelorette Season 20, which will air this summer.
Lawson made it far in Shallcross’ season, but her journey toward a potential engagement ended following hometown dates, when Shallcross sent her home due to him having stronger connections with the three remaining contestants — Ariel Frenkel, Gabi Elnicki and Kaity Biggar.
Lawson walked away in tears and said that Zach sending her home “made no sense.”
During the “Women Tell All” special, Lawson learned that her journey to find love has not ended, as host Jesse Palmer shared that she had been chosen to star in the upcoming season of The Bachelorette.
Learn more about Lawson below.
Lawson is a child and family therapist.
Lawson grew up in Georgia but attended college in Alabama.
The 27-year-old attended Auburn University and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in rehabilitation and disability in 2018. In May 2022, Lawson received her master of education in clinical mental health counseling, also from Auburn University.
Per Hollywood Life, Lawson celebrated her most recent academic achievement on Instagram, writing, “POV: I Just passed boards and we are celebrating with the legendary pb pie at Acre. I’m going to be a counselor!”
She was cheated on in her last relationship.
While competing on The Bachelor, Lawson opened up about getting cheated on in her previous relationship.
“The relationship prior to being here — it was an emotionally abusive relationship for me. I never honestly felt what it feels like to be seen as a partner,” Lawson told Shallcross during their one-on-one date. “It was just a relationship that had several occurrences of infidelity. Way more than probably anyone could imagine.”
“It was with someone that I knew and also the person that I loved at the time who did this awful thing to me. It just became this really vicious cycle of manipulation,” Lawson continued.
Lawson made it to the final four of Zach Shallcross' 'Bachelor' season.
Though it seemed like Lawson and Shallcross had a great thing going, he ended up sending her home following their hometown date, which aired on March 13.
The breakup left Lawson in tears, but luckily for her, she gets another shot at potentially finding love on Season 20 of The Bachelorette.
Lawson is the fourth Black female lead of 'The Bachelorette' and the fifth Black lead in the overall franchise.
Lawson will be the fifth Black lead in The Bachelor franchise history, following The Bachelorette’s Rachel Lindsay, Tayshia Adams and Michelle Young, as well as The Bachelor‘s Matt James.
