Raven Gates and Vanessa Grimaldi's relationships with Nick Viall apparently had "a lot of the same" strengths and obstacles, according to The Bachelor star.
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"[Raven] is a big personality too, and I think a relationship with Raven would have its challenges as well," Nick told Glamour of the 25-year-old boutique owner from Hoxie, AR.
"Raven is a bit younger than Vanessa, but at the same time she's mature for her age. Her love experience was limited in that she's only been in one relationship. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean she can't have a successful relationship with her next one, but sometimes that can be a good or bad thing. Sometimes a lack of perspective can bring its challenges relative to someone who has a little bit more."
Raven was in a serious relationship with her ex-boyfriend of two years, but the bachelorette told Nick she had never told a man, "I love you," or experienced an orgasm before. (Although her ex, Hunter Henry, argues otherwise).
Raven's "lack of perspective" therefore pertains to both sexual and emotional relationship history.
"I didn't want to make it too much of a big deal," Nick said of Raven's orgasm disclosure.
"I didn't want to be like, 'Oh my God!' It was like, 'Okay, that's fine.' I appreciated her willingness to be bold enough to address that. There is the physical aspect, but there are a lot of things I looked forward to doing with Raven in terms of communicating with her that were also a priority of mine."
Many viewers were shocked to learn such personal things about Raven on The Bachelor, but Nick is happy the ABC reality dating series didn't gloss over the topic on TV.
"A lot of not-so-great things came from my conversation with [Andi Dorfman] at After the Final Rose," Nick told the magazine, referring to the jaw-dropping moment he publicly revealed he had sex with the former The Bachelorette star in the fantasy suite on Season 10.
"But the show has changed since then. The show is more willing to acknowledge the fact that sex is part of a relationship and that it can and has happened as a part of this journey. I don't think it should be the focal point; I think there's a lot of important things that go into fantasy suite week other than the physical aspect."
Nick continued, "So [while] I don't think it should be overstated either, I think it's great that you see this kind of dilemma -- not only with Raven about her nervousness, but me as the Bachelor and how do I approach this? [I say that] in terms of being respectful to the relationships but trying to explore all these relationships and figure out who I could see myself getting engaged to."
Nick insisted The Bachelor seems "more authentic and real" to him when the show is "willing to take those risks
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
