The Bachelor alum Vanessa Grimaldi says she never wanted to get engaged to Nick Viall at the end of Season 21.
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Vanessa appeared on the Tuesday episode of the "Let's Talk About It With Taylor Nolan" podcast and revealed that although she accepted a marriage proposal from Nick during The Bachelor's Season 21 finale that aired in March 2017, she was initially against the idea.
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"I didn't want to get engaged. They didn't air this," Vanessa, 32, told the podcast host and her best friend Taylor Nolan, who also competed on The Bachelor's 21st season and later got engaged to Derek Peth on Bachelor in Paradise 4.
"I had a conversation with [Nick], and I said, 'Listen, wouldn't it be better if we just date outside of the show and then get engaged? 'Cause that'd be more meaningful. We'd get to know each other.'"
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Nick, 39, however, reportedly pushed for an engagement for a couple of different reasons when he starred on the series.
"He brought up something really important, and I think if we weren't engaged, we would've broken up sooner," Vanessa, who's originally from Canada, explained.
"He said, 'I know to you it could be just a piece of jewelry, but there's so much meaning towards us leaving engaged because there's going to be so much attention."
"There's going to be so much, like, backlash on us after and once we're done with the show. At least... this is going to hold us together more."
And Vanessa agreed, saying she and Nick ultimately committed to staying together and working towards the same goal.
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"I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't picture him as someone that I could've potentially grown with," Vanessa shared.
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Nick and Vanessa broke up in August 2017, less than six months after their The Bachelor engagement aired on ABC.
However, Vanessa insisted she was definitely "ready for marriage" and ready to start a family when she appeared on The Bachelor at age 28.
"I was ready to uproot my life, and I did," explained Vanessa, who moved to the United States for Nick after the show.
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"And so, to me, it all made sense, because I'm like, 'Wow, I went through all these breakups that literally were so hard on me to for me to be on the show, and so maybe it was meant for me to be on the show and it was meant for me to date Nick and it was meant for me to have this life.'"
Vanessa has since moved on with businessman Josh Wolfe, the Director of Outreach and Programming for Quebec and Atlantic Canada for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Vanessa went Instagram official with Josh in late January about a week after reports of her being in a new relationship began circulating.
A source told E! News at the time she and Josh met through friends and began dating in late 2018.
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And now, Vanessa said she can envision a future with Josh and things just kind of fell into place for the both of them.
"It's crazy. I really do believe everything happens for a reason," Vanessa told Taylor. "Listen, if I hadn't gone on to the show, I don't know, would Josh have slid into my DMs?"
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