The Bachelorette alum Hannah Brown has revealed that she used alcohol to mask the pain she was feeling after starring on Season 15 and going through heartbreak and growing pains in the public eye.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hannah claims she essentially went through a quarter-life crisis after The Bachelorette and that even winning Dancing with the Stars' 28th season in 2019 didn't make her feel "fulfilled" or "enough." She was plagued with insecurities, fan backlash and relationship shame.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

"I'd never really been a drinker before and I was on TV, like, every Monday for an entire year and didn't know how to handle how my life had so publicly been displayed," Hannah, 27, said during a Friday appearance on The Tamron Hall Show.

"[I] have always kind of lived with a smile on my face and, you know, tried to pretend like everything was okay. But then when I was at home by myself, the only thing that was really giving me comfort was a glass of wine -- and then it became more than that."

Hannah insisted she's not making any "excuses" for the "mistakes" she has made.

"But I also was just not in the best place of life," the Alabama native explained. "And [I] didn't know what resources I had to be able to get that help."

The former beauty pageant queen wrote about her struggle with alcohol in her memoir, God Bless This Mess: Learning to Live and Love Through Life's Best (and Worst) Moments, which was released in November 2021.

Hannah wrote in the book that she "started drinking at 11 a.m. -- and never really stopped... I'd been drinking more. Sometimes a lot more. It was another way of avoiding the big problems, I guess," according to Us Weekly.

And Hannah shared with Entertainment Tonight at the time of her book release that she turned to alcohol for comfort in the wake of her split from The Bachelorette's Season 15 winner Jed Wyatt.

Hannah's 2019 The Bachelorette season ended with her choosing the aspiring country singer over runner-up Tyler Cameron and third-place finisher Peter Weber.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  

Hannah accepted a marriage proposal from Jed during The Bachelorette finale, but their relationship quickly fell apart and Hannah chose to call off their engagement once she learned Jed had a girlfriend back home in Nashville while he was filming the reality dating series.

Hannah then attempted a second shot at love with Tyler, who instead moved on with supermodel Gigi Hadid, and also appeared on Peter's The Bachelor season with confusing lingering feelings, which resulted in the pilot and Hannah hooking up in early 2020 while Season 24 of The Bachelor was airing on ABC.

Hannah then quarantined with Tyler in his hometown of Jupiter, FL, for several weeks in 2020, but their relationship never became more than friends.

Both individuals have insisted, in fact, that they never even kissed during that time together, and Hannah later admitted that she felt like a "backup" option for the former general contractor.

Hannah claimed Tyler's last text to her was, "Well... if you rock with me, you rock with me. If you don't, you don't."

Hannah told ET late last year, "It was really interesting to see how it goes from one glass of wine, two glasses of wine, three glasses of wine, tequila."

"I've definitely reassessed how alcohol is a part of my life," she said.

Hannah came to realize that she wasn't going to find what her heart needs through drinking.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

"I think just a lot of people, we do that. We kind of fill a void. I was definitely finding myself in that cycle," she noted.

"I'm really glad that I've gotten the help that I needed. The therapy, the emotional support that I needed to kind of deal with my own stuff going on inside my heart, and mind, and just my mental health, so that [alcohol] is not something that I go to for any type of solace."

Hannah has been dating boyfriend, model Adam Woolard, for about a year-and-a-half now, and she told Tamron Hall how she's "so thankful" for the relationship.

"It's such a mature relationship of two people who have gone on different journeys. I think I had to go through that journey of asking this question, 'Who am I?' And 'What do I want?' And he's gone on that journey too," Hannah said on Friday's episode of the talk show.

"And we are people that do not find wholeness through each other but through becoming whole people as individuals that can then amplify each other's growth."

Hannah elaborated, "And that is something that I don't think that I've ever had, is somebody that is equally encouraged and motivated by continuing to challenge and get better and move forward and grow in life as I am."

Hannah said she's "really proud" of her relationship, adding, "[I] can really see the progress I've made just in how I view my relationship and how I view my relationship with myself."

Hannah's follow-up to God Bless This Mess called God Bless This Messy Journal was released on April 12, and she said it was created to help other people learn how to channel their frustrations and heartache into a safe space and use journaling as a tool to overcome adversity.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS