The Bachelorette alum Gabby Windey has revealed when she first realized she's sexually attracted to women.
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Gabby came out as gay on August 2 and revealed that she's dating comedian and writer Robby Hoffman.
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"She is so special. She makes me feel so safe, so loved. It's a love I always wanted going on these dating shows," Gabby said of Robby, whom she's been dating for three months, during Wednesday's episode of The View on ABC.
Prior to getting romantically involved with Robby, Gabby had competed on The Bachelor's 26th season starring Clayton Echard and then co-starred on The Bachelorette's nineteenth season with Rachel Recchia.
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Gabby even got engaged to her The Bachelorette winner, Erich Schwer, during the season finale that aired in September 2022, but she announced their split less than two months later in November 2022.
Gabby explained on The View how her attraction to women -- which had started out as a "whisper" deep inside of her -- intensified and become impossible to ignore in the last couple of years.
And the Dancing with the Stars Season 31 winner acknowledged how nobody probably saw this coming.
"Not even me, but here we are," Gabby confessed with a laugh.
Gabby explained of her realization she's bisexual, "Just after wrapping up my busy couple years with Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I was traveling and I was in a bubble. I was trying to make my relationship [with Erich] work after Bachelorette."
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"And then I finally had time to settle in L.A.," she continued, "and I think there was always a whisper in me that just got louder and louder."
Gabby admitted she "didn't really know to pay attention to it."
And not only that, The Bachelor alum suggested she was initially afraid to face -- and embrace -- those feelings towards women.
"I think, you know, when this happens, there's some shame obviously surrounding it, so I think I had to, a little bit, navigate through the shame, like, 'What is it? Where is it coming from?'" Gabby shared.
"But ultimately... I always just want to do me, do what I want, and figure it out later."
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And Gabby confirmed that she had not given her ex-fiance, Erich, a heads-up that she has a girlfriend or would be coming out as gay.
"I was nervous coming here, but it feels like a huge weight lifted, just to be able to talk about it publicly," Gabby noted on The View.
She concluded, "It took me a while to stop questioning and start trusting. Now I'm fully trusting."
Gabby and Rachel got dumped simultaneously by Clayton on The Bachelor's 26th season after they both slept with him in the Fantasy Suites and met his family.
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Clayton ultimately chose Susie Evans -- a "once-in-a-lifetime woman," as he called her -- as his winner, but Susie was hurt by his actions on the show and didn't begin dating him until after the show taped in the real world.
After Susie and Clayton announced they were dating on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose in March 2022, Gabby and Rachel both went on to star on The Bachelorette, hoping to find true love.
Gabby got engaged to Erich on The Bachelorette's Season 19 finale, but they called off their engagement, in an alleged amicable manner, while Gabby was competing on Dancing with the Stars.
News of Gabby and Erich's split surfaced on November 4, and then Gabby confirmed she and Erich were over days later during an episode of Dancing with the Stars. Gabby said she and her former fiance weren't "in sync" or "the best match" for each other.
When asked if she'd be The Bachelorette star again, Gabby revealed on the April 25 episode of the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast, "I would honestly be the Bachelorette again -- for the right price."
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After Gabby and Erich broke up, Gabby set her sights on her Dancing with the Stars Season 31 competitor, Vinny Guadagnino.
Gabby admitted she had a "crush" on Vinny and would "of course" go on a date with him if he asked.
The pair flirted on social media for months beginning in November 2022 and spent a lot of time together on the Dancing with the Stars tour earlier this year, but Vinny confirmed in January that he and Gabby weren't dating.
"It takes a lot more for me than just, like, a couple Instagram comments to be dating someone," Vinny explained to Us, adding, "I would actually go to dinner with Gabby. It's just that we just met, you know what I mean? It's not like anything serious."
Vinny, however, gushed about how he has "great chemistry" with the brunette beauty.
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"We're both, like, comedians. So, that's why we get along and that's also why we flirt so much on Instagram because we have that same banter with each other," Vinny shared at the time.
Gabby told Kaitlyn on "Off the Vine" that she and Vinny still talked all the time and he liked her, however, she said dating would be difficult since she lives in Los Angeles and he lives in New York.
Erich, meanwhile, recently shared how his mental health struggled during and after The Bachelorette.
Erich announced in mid-February he was in a new relationship with model and social media influencer Elizabeth Turner.
Elizabeth's Instagram account showed they were hanging out all the time and had a strong relationship, but she has since deleted their photos, resulting in speculation they've split.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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