Gabby Windey: 10 things to know about 'The Bachelor' star Clayton Echard's bachelorette Gabby Windey

Gabby Windey is looking forward to an overnight Fantasy Suite date with The Bachelor star Clayton Echard when Season 26 continues on ABC.


Gabby is a 30-year-old ICU nurse from Denver, CO.

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Clayton realized pretty early on that Gabby is special, and he told the cameras after their first one-on-one date, "She could be my future wife."

When Gabby took Clayton home to meet her family, he called her the "funniest woman alive" and said he appreciated how Gabby was trusting and opening up to him more and more. In fact, Clayton thought their relationship was skyrocketing to the top.


Clayton meshed very well with Gabby's family and felt like he could be a part of it, and then Gabby told the Bachelor after introducing him to her loved ones, "I definitely feel like I'm falling in love with you."

"There it is! I have been waiting on that!" Clayton said with a big smile in response.

Gabby said she had been feeling that way for a while but seeing Clayton with her family solidified things. Clayton was giddy, which was reassuring for Gabby, and she gushed about her heart being "so full."

"I'm so ready to be engaged and share our lives together!" Gabby noted.

Until viewers can watch what happens next between Clayton and Gabby, let's learn some information about the bubbly brunette right now.


Below is a list of 10 facts Reality TV World has compiled about Gabby Windey.

ABC says Gabby Windey has many layers

Gabby says she has a big heart and absolutely loves kids, and ABC says of the bachelorette, "Gabby is much more than meets the eye."

"Not only is she beautiful, but she also has a lot of substance, emotional depth and a wealth of lived experiences," the network revealed.

While Clayton liked Gabby's humor right off the bat, once he got to know her better, he said she "blindsided" him "in the best possible way."


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Gabby thought she'd connect with Clayton on his passion for football

Gabby, who is a registered nurse at the University of Colorado Hospital, danced as a Denver Broncos cheerleader for five years.

Gabby was honored to be the Broncos calendar cover of 2019, and she had traveled to Germany and Mexico City while cheering on her team.

"I remember making the team for the first time like it was yesterday," Gabby said in an April 2021 video on Instagram.

"I was overcome with joy, appreciation and disbelief that one of my greatest dreams was coming true. Little did I know this dream would be more than I could ever imagine or envision for myself."


Gabby said she enjoyed connecting with Broncos fans all around the world and will always be grateful for her years in the organization.

Gabby recognized she and Clayton, a college football player, would have at least one thing in common.

Gabby wants a man with quiet confidence

While Gabby doesn't have a physical type, she says if a guy doesn't have a personality, then it's a hard pass.

Gabby's ideal man will challenge her, communicate his feelings, and work hard to equally carry the weight of the relationship.
 

Gabby's future husband must love dogs!

Gabby is terrified of humpback whales but she is a huge dog lover.


Gabby adores her Goldendoodle, Leonardo, and says they are a package deal.

While Gabby would love to find a man, she isn't the type to lose herself in a relationship. She hopes her partner will love her for the independent woman she is.

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Clayton won't be the first Bachelor Nation man whom Gabby has dated

Gabby dated The Bachelorette alum Dean Unglert during his college years, and Dean -- who is now in a serious and committed relationship with The Bachelor alum Caelynn Miller Keyes -- has said how she's an amazing girl and he was in love with her.

Dean discussed his relationship with Gabby, although he didn't name her directly, during an October episode of his "Help! I Suck at Dating!" podcast.

"She was, like, one of [my] main exes. She was my girlfriend from college. Producers called me and were like, 'Hey, we're thinking of casting this person -- what do you think of her? We know that you dated 10 years ago,'" Dean revealed, according to Us Weekly.


"And I was like, 'Oh, she's great. If she gets selected for the show, she'll either win the show or she'll be the next Bachelorette.' And I firmly believe that."

Gabby also previously dated The Bachelorette alum Blake Horstmann!

Blake shared late last year how and he Gabby dated for a couple of months after her relationship with Dean ended.

Since Blake also had a brief fling with Caelynn before she met Dean, Blake joked about how the two men simply like the same girls.

"I didn't know Dean until obviously, like, 2018, but Gabby was a good friend of one of my very good friends from college, they were roommates," Blake said on his "Behind the Rose" podcast in October 2021, according to Us.

"I met Gabby long before I was on The Bachelorette, like, I want to say maybe 2015 or 2016. We hung out for a little bit, so I know her very well."

Blake called Gabby "fun" and "loud" and said at the time she has a "very outgoing personality."


"When she walks into a room, you know she's in a room. You never know if the lead is going to be into something like that," Blake said.

"You never know if they like the more shy, quiet type or they like the loud, outgoing type, but she's definitely very loud, very outgoing, she has a lot of friends. So if Clayton's into that, I see her getting hometowns, for sure. She's a beautiful woman... They're gonna have the football player, cheerleader storyline."

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Clayton said he felt sparks with Gabby right away after first meeting

Clayton told Entertainment Tonight that Gabby's entrance on Night 1 when she said, "Hey, I want to sit on your face," made him laugh.

"What am I going to say back to that?" Clayton said.

"I love a great sense of humor. What that joke showed me was that, not only was she humorous, but she is also confident, because you have to be to throw something out like that Night 1, to somebody you just met."


Clayton therefore said Gabby "rocked" her entrance and first impression.

"So that instantly captured my attention," Clayton shared. "I just kind of did my little laugh, because I didn't know how to respond. My grandma watches this. My mom watches this."
 

Gabby likes to try to keep everything light!

While Gabby has a serious job as an ICU nurse and even assisted the sick as COVID-19 spread, the bachelorette views herself as a total goofball.

Gabby had heard prior to appearing on The Bachelor that Clayton also has a goofy side, and so she planned to seduce Clayton with her humor.

Gabby was also voted "Team Clown" her rookie year as a cheerleader for the Denver Broncos.

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The bachelorette clarifies her past relationships with Dean and Blake

Gabby dished on how serious -- or insignificant -- her prior romances were with Dean and Blake during an early January appearance on "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" hosted by Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo.

"We don't have our phones when we're filming, and I came home to all this stuff about how Blake and Dean had been talking about me," Gabby said, adding how it's been "crazy" and adjusting to normal life again was "hard."

But Gabby noted how she was relieved and "grateful" to find out Dean and Blake had both said "really positive things" about her.

"I feel like there's a lot of conversation about it," Gabby said.

"I dated Dean over 10 years ago. I think we were 18 or 19, so maybe 12 years ago now, in college. He was one of my first loves."

Gabby's recollection of her relationship with Dean corroborates what he had said in October 2021.


Gabby said on "Talking It Out" that her relationship with Dean, however, is in "a distant past" from her experience on The Bachelor's 26th season.

"It was just so long ago... Clayton and I's story, it's very much its own thing," Gabby insisted.

"I'm almost really grateful it was far in the past so I could focus more on Clayton and kind of be separate, at least so I thought. I knew things were going to come up."

As for Blake, Gabby suggested their fling wasn't an actual romantic relationship.

"Blake and I had mutual friends... I want to say when I first got out of college. So it was like 2013 or 2014. We never actually went on a date; there were no drinks paid for, no dinner paid for," Gabby explained to Mike and Bryan.

"[Blake is] saying we dated," she complained.


"And you're saying you didn't really date?" Mike asked for clarification.

"Right," Gabby replied. "Yeah. He's like one of my friends of friends, you know, we had spent time together and stuff. But definitely no official dating [or] no formal [relationship] or exclusivity."

And Gabby reiterated how that was also "a really long time ago."

"So yeah, it's nice to kind of have that separation. I've had boyfriends since both of them that have really taught me a lot of things," she shared.

Gabby said she's learned a lot from past relationships -- after Dean and Blake -- that helped her grow "into a woman and as a partner."

"So I think they're great people," Gabby said of the two The Bachelorette alums.


"And I'm grateful for all of the nice things that they said about me. But it's nice to kind of clear up my dating history, which seems to be a topic of conversation!"

Gabby uses humor as a coping mechanism to deflect struggles in her life

Although Gabby has no problem giving and showing her love, she struggles to receive it.

Gabby has felt "undeserving" of love -- a sense of unworthiness -- because she grew up with love being conditional from her mother. Gabby says when she was younger, her mother would show physical affectionate only to suddenly withhold it.

"I think, 'If my mom can stop loving me, why can't anyone else?' She's my mom. We don't have a relationship now," Gabby explained to Clayton on a recent episode of The Bachelor, adding how she missed her mom so much but has a lot of healing to do.

"She just did the best with what she was given, and unfortunately, it affected me."

Gabby, however, has a great relationship with her supportive father and says the past has made her into the woman she is today.


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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski