Clare Crawley Says She Wanted Tayshia Adams to Be 'The Bachelorette' (Exclusive)
Clare Crawley is a big fan of Tayshia Adams! While speaking with ET's Lauren Zima on Tuesday, the Bachelorette played coy about Tayshia stepping in for her on the ABC dating show -- but did say she's previously backed Tayshia for the role.
"I wanted Tayshia as the Bachelorette... like, I support her," Clare shares. "I think she's beautiful, I think she's a very grounded woman, a woman who knows what she wants. I completely support that, I supported her....I've wanted to her to be the Bachelorette forever. I always was for that."
Fans were first alerted to the switch after Clare appeared to return to social media on Aug. 2, with her account liking a tweet about fan-favorite Tayshia becoming the Bachelorette. Clare's account unliked the tweet shortly after 8 a.m. PT the next morning.
According to Clare, the liked tweet rumors were much ado about nothing -- she says she had a friend monitoring her social media accounts for her while she was on lockdown filming her season, and the friend accidentally liked the tweet.
"The truth is I don't even know [why it happened], her and I have not even talked about it," Clare says. "I didn't even think it was that big of a deal, I think slip-ups happen. Whether she meant to or didn't mean to...we haven't even talked about it."
"I would admit if I was the one that did it," she adds. "I would totally own it, because I've said it before on my Twitter... I wanted Tayshia as the Bachelorette."
But as for the question of whether or not there are two Bachelorettes this season? "I can't say!" Clare answers. "I don't know, you'll have to see."
ET learned on Aug. 3 that Clare had exited her role as Bachelorette, after falling for one of her contestants roughly two weeks into filming. Adams was brought in as a new Bachelorette, but Warner Bros. and ABC have yet to confirm the news.
However, for her part, Clare tells ET that she "did not quit" the show. A source told ET in August that she ended her Bachelorette journey on good terms with producers, a sentiment Clare seems to echo.
"I did not quit. I stayed the whole time," she shares. "I went, I did what I was going do there. I showed up, I didn't quit anything."
Both Crawley and Adams' journeys will be featured on this season of The Bachelorette, premiering Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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