‘Bachelorette’ Stars Meredith Phillips, Jen Schefft Waterman Address Their Reunion Special Absences
Monday night, fans of The Bachelorette got to watch an epic reunion show. Hannah Brown will headline Season 15 when it premieres on Monday, May 13, and in honor of that, the network pulled together 12 of the past 14 former leads for a special episode. However, Meredith Phillips and Jen Schefft Waterman were not there, and some new information about their absences has just emerged.
As The Inquisitr shared previously, host Chris Harrison addressed the fact that Meredith and Jen were not there and played it off as a simple scheduling issue. He said that everybody was contacted, but that it became impossible to find one taping date that worked for all 14 former leads.
Some fans were perhaps a bit skeptical of this excuse, and now at least in the case of Meredith, it seems there may be a good reason to be skeptical. The Bachelorette fans know that when it comes specifically to Phillips, she has distanced herself from the franchise significantly.
In fact, as The Inquisitr has detailed, Phillips opened up to spoiler king Reality Steve in a podcast last year and revealed some stunning information. Meredith shared allegations that a female massage therapist hired by production assaulted her during the filming of her season.
Former #TheBachelorette Star Meredith Phillips: I Was Sexually Assaulted During Filming https://t.co/AGGX8djbvE pic.twitter.com/O9pgn1Gyx0
— TVLine.com (@TVLine) May 23, 2018
Given that alleged experience, it perhaps wouldn’t have seemed surprising if Phillips was asked, but declined, to participate in The Bachelorette reunion. However, Reality Steve shared via Twitter that he reached out to Phillips and she said she was never approached about doing the show.
“NOTE: I don’t know why Jen Schefft Waterman isn’t there but I asked Meredith Phillips if she was ever contacted to be a part of this. This is what she texted back: ‘No, I was never contacted or spoke to anyone. I didn’t even know the show was happening.’ Just so you know.”
As for Schefft Waterman, it seems that a scheduling conflict truly was the issue on her end. Ahead of Monday’s Bachelorette special, Jen said via Twitter that she did have another family commitment.
“So sad to miss! I had a family vacation planned and couldn’t get away. You ladies look beautiful! #TheBacheloretteReunion #TheBachelorette”
The Bachelorette reunion special did have lots of fun, juicy moments incorporated, and fans loved getting the opportunity to see most of the former leads all together reminiscing over their experiences. It certainly could be tough to get 14 women gathered together on one filming date, but the idea that Meredith was specifically excluded does leave fans feeling a bit frustrated.
At this point, neither Chris Harrison nor ABC has responded to what Meredith Phillips told Reality Steve. The Bachelorette special does appear to have been a big hit with longtime fans, despite the absence of Meredith and Jen Schefft Waterman. Now, fans are looking forward to getting started with Hannah Brown’s season when it premieres on Monday, May 13.
