Former ‘Bachelorette’ Clare Crawley Says She Felt ‘Robbed’ in Engagement Experience with Dale Moss
Clare Crawley feels that The Bachelorette took one major thing from her: the joy of an engagement.
In a conversation with Bachelor Happy Hour hosts Michelle Young and Becca Kufrin, Crawley, 41, recounted her whirlwind engagement to Dale Moss, and how it impacted her views of the special moment.
As she spoke about her recent engagement to Ryan Dawkins, Crawley shared grief over her last proposal to Moss not being able to involve her mother, who is currently in hospice.
“I was so upset for so long at my previous relationship because I felt like ‘You took that moment and that time away from me and my mom that was special, that I had been waiting to share with my mom,'” Crawley said.
“I felt robbed of that before and taken advantage of that before. And used for that,” she added. “And not knowing how precious that is to me.”
Crawley, however, has been able to celebrate her new engagement with Dawkins, especially as her mother was involved this go-round.
“This time, with Ryan, it’s so beautiful and he got emotional, which made me so emotional,” she said in a shaky voice. “He was so respectful and loving and still is so kind to my mom.”
After Crawley exclusively shared her lantern festival engagement with PEOPLE, Ryan actually proposed again in front of Crawley’s sick mother.
“It was a moment that’s never happened before,” Crawley said. “A moment I never expected. And anything with my mom, because she still is on hospice for Dementia and Alzheimer’s — time is so valuable and time is so limited.”
In 2020, Crawley left several men behind on The Bachelorette to pursue a relationship with Moss. He proposed just a few weeks into knowing each other. Her spot as Bachelorette was assumed by Tayshia Adams.
But Crawley’s engagement to Moss was short-lived. They dated on and off post-show before pumping the breaks for good in September 2021.
Before Dale, Crawley was in Juan Pablo Galavis’ final two but he chose to pursue Nikki Ferrell. She then met Benoît Beauséjour-Savard on Bachelor Winter Games and later accepted a proposal from him. Though the engagement didn’t last, the pair remain close friends to this day.
