The Bachelor's Lexi Young has revealed how her ex-boyfriend's reaction to her endometriosis battle shut her down, and how Joey Graziadei's reaction was so surprising and different.
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Lexi -- who was diagnosed with endometriosis in early 2019 after silently suffering for years -- was shown telling Joey during their one-on-one date in Malta that she may not be able to have children of her own due to the disease in her reproductive system, which is incurable.
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Lexi even had her eggs frozen less than two weeks before she left to film The Bachelor's 28th season.
Lexi dished about how Joey's reaction to her health crisis tore down her walls after a difficult heartbreak in the past during the February 15 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.
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"For him, my health was ultimately something that impacted the end of our relationship. I think he saw it as, I would never say a burden, but, you know, just something that would potentially affect us being able to have a family long-term or my ability to be a mother," Lexi shared with the podcast's co-hosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.
"I am not always 100 percent every day. So for him, he saw that sometimes as a challenge, which you can imagine on my side is really difficult."
Lexi went on to share, "When we broke up, I was hearing from multiple people, 'He just wasn't sure if he could handle your health condition. He wasn't sure that he could support you in the way that you need to be supported.'"
Lexi suggested that she had tried to hide her hurt and disappointment from that broken relationship.
"For me, I do a really good job at holding my pain in and not showing it outwardly," Lexi said.
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"I am already self-conscious about this, so to hear that it was one of the deciding factors in his decision not to move towards a marriage with me has made me not want to open up about any of this with another person."
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Lexi therefore explained how she wanted to be honest with Joey early on in their relationship about how it may be difficult for her to conceive a child down the road.
"On the show, you have such limited time, and so, I wanted to be fair to Joey," Lexi noted.
"And Joey was never going to go in and say, 'I don't want to be with you because you can't have kids.' That's not the conversation we were having. It was more of, 'Hey, I'm dealing with X, Y, and Z -- I might be on a little bit more of an expedited timeline than some of these other girls... How does that make you feel?'"
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Lexi said she wanted to hear Joey's "genuine" reaction because "it's okay" if they weren't on the same page, like if Joey wants "seven to 10" years before having kids.
"His emotions and reactions are valid, and I would rather have that early on than drag out a connection and it come out later. That, to me, wouldn't be fair to him," Lexi explained.
On the show, Joey took Lexi's news very well, and he told the bachelorette that if she ended up being his person and couldn't have kids, they'd find other ways to expand their family, such as through a surrogate or adoption.
Joey wanted to continue dating Lexi even though she had warned him that her disease will always have an impact on her quality of life.
"Hearing Joey's response will probably forever change my perception on opening up about this in my life -- my story and my health -- in relationships. He brought me to tears that night. He was so genuine and sincere and such a good listener," Lexi gushed of The Bachelor star.
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"I felt heard and I didn't feel judged or analyzed. I felt like he was really just listening to me and empathetic to what I went through."
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Lexi said Joey also "related" to her "in many ways" when reflecting on his own personal life.
"He was like, 'Look, that's not an issue for me.' I think with the right person, whoever that is for him, they would figure it out," Lexi revealed.
"That could be through things like adoption or surrogacy or whatever that looks like. Kids are important to him as well, but [my health] wasn't going to be detrimental in his choice to move forward with me. He was just so kind that night."
Lexi said her date with Joey and that deep conversation was "really beautiful."
Lexi added of Joey, "He's a kind person and he actually cares... He was locked in. He was listening to me, and in a situation like that, it's important."
Lexi went on to receive a rose in Spain, and she's going to continue on Joey's The Bachelor season when the next episode airs Monday, February 19 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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Click here to learn more about Joey's The Bachelor bachelorettes or click here to read spoilers that reveal how Joey's season ends and who he picked as his winner.
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