The Bachelorette winner Shawn Booth has announced that he's going to be a father before the end of this year is up.

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"I have a very big announcement... I am going to be a dad," Shawn, 37, announced on the July 17 episode of his "In the Booth with Shawn Booth" podcast.

Shawn added, "It feels good!"

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The Season 11 The Bachelorette winner shared how his first child is due to be born on December 12.

"Baby Booth, on their way!" Shawn said. "It's happening! I'm going to be a father."

Shawn chose not to reveal the identity of the baby's mother, but he did share that he's been "close with her for years."

Shawn elaborated, "We've had a relationship and we've dated. This just isn't some random girl I met at Honky Tonk Central. This is a big surprise for the both of us, I mean, to be open and honest. This wasn't something that was planned. But it will be."

The Bachelorette alum went on to say that this will be "the most beautiful surprise" he's "ever had" in his life.

"And it's going to be very special. I can't wait," Shawn gushed. "I'm ready. I'm 37 years old. I've always wanted to be a dad."

Shawn teased how the mother of his child will appear on his podcast "soon," as long as she's up for it.

"Obviously it's not easy for her going through pregnancy and trying to keep it under wraps. That's obviously tricky. We didn't tell, really, anybody until -- well, she told her close family and friends, and I waited probably 10 to 12 weeks to tell anybody," Shawn explained.

"It's something I was just kind of walking around with and not talking about, which is crazy!"

Shawn said, however, that the woman in his life finally returned to his gym in Nashville, which is when "pretty much everyone" found out about the pregnancy.

"The next step was telling the world about it, which we're doing now... She is 18 weeks," Shawn noted. "She's almost halfway [to giving birth]."

Shawn boasted about how this mystery woman is going to be a good mother.

"And it's going to be incredible. It's very overwhelming," The Bachelorette alum said.

"And it's also tough, too, for the dad because it takes a while to really fully grasp that you're having a kid -- your body's not changing, you're not dealing with all the hormones, and you want to, as much as you can, help out."

But Shawn acknowledged how fathers-to-be "can't really do anything" until their baby is born.

"So she's been an absolute champ, a rock star through it all," Shawn gushed.

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Shawn said he's been through "almost every emotion" on his path to fatherhood and it's been a "wild" ride.

"There was never a point where I was freaking out -- never," Shawn insisted.

But he predicted there will be many people with "thoughts and opinions" on his personal life.

"And I think now, probably more than ever, I've gotten to a point where I'm like, 'I don't care what anybody thinks,'" Shawn noted.

"If they're like, 'You're not married,' it's like, 'Listen, that's not what's important here.'"

In terms of naming the baby, Shawn said he and the mother-to-be are going to incorporate both of their last names in "a cool fashion."

Shawn's public announcement was a big deal considering he confessed that he has "a tough time" opening up to people and trusting people.

Shawn found fame when he competed on Kaitlyn Bristowe's season of The Bachelorette in 2015.

Shawn proposed marriage to Kaitlyn on The Bachelorette's eleventh season, but they called it quits more than three years later.

Kaitlyn revealed in April that she believes Shawn Booth had used her for professional gain towards the end of their relationship.

During the April 3 episode of her fiance Jason Tartick's "Trading Secrets" podcast, Kaitlyn accused Shawn of dragging out their romance after the show in order to benefit from her income and success.

"It was getting down to the end where we both just didn't see it going anywhere," Kaitlyn recalled of November 2018 breakup with Shawn. "But it felt like he was hanging on until his gym opened. And that's where I felt used professionally."

Kaitlyn recalled having a "power struggle" with Shawn after The Bachelorette ended.

"With all these opportunities, they're like, 'We want Kaitlyn there and, well, Shawn can come too!' Or maybe not. Maybe it's just Kaitlyn, or it's the two of us together, but it was always if I was there, then he was invited," Kaitlyn recalled.

"And I think that on top of already feeling emasculated on the show where you're not The One [right off the bat] and there's other relationships building and you thought it was you the whole time and then you realize it wasn't -- how does a relationship even work after that? I don't know. It's hard."

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Back in November 2021, Shawn said of his relationship with Kaitlyn on the "Austin AF" podcast, "I don't know if it was true, true love. I guess it wasn't because we'd still be together if it was."

Shawn explained at the time, "Of course, you're thinking it's love. But you're put in a situation where you're completely secluded from the world. You can't talk to your friends, you can't talk to your family," according to Us Weekly.

"You can't watch TV. You don't have the Internet. I mean, you're there for 12 weeks, you're trying to, like, just figure out your emotions and your feelings. And you have this person that you're kind of going through the process with."

When Kaitlyn announced her split from Shawn, she claimed they had "important fundamental values" that didn't line up.

But Shawn reportedly thought it was "disrespectful" that Kaitlyn moved on with Jason in early 2019.

Jason asked Kaitlyn out on their first date in January 2019. Jason moved from his place in Seattle to live with Kaitlyn in Nashville in June 2019, and the couple has since adopted two dogs together.

"Everybody deals with breakups in a different way. That was her way of dealing with a breakup -- getting right into it and wanting to share it with the world," Shawn said.

"We weren't together she was able to do whatever she wanted to do. So it didn't really matter how I felt. The biggest takeaway I took from that was, 'Okay, this is, like, a good move that we ended.' Let's rip off the band-aid completely."

In December 2021, Kaitlyn candidly discussed Shawn's "bitter" comments about their broken engagement, including how he didn't think they had found "true love."

Kaitlyn told Us at the time how she didn't listen to Shawn's interview but she was still hurt by what she heard or read about it.

"People told me about it, but it actually just made me a little sad because he had every opportunity to just be happy for me and be happy at where he's at in life. And he just still seems a little bitter," Kaitlyn shared.

"And I was just confused by that because it's been three years and I thought maybe he would just, you know, we'd want each other to be happy."

She added, "It made me sad that he said he didn't think it was real love or we'd still be together. Obviously, his experience was different than mine."

Kaitlyn said in March 2019 how she "wasn't feeling loved" and felt "alone" in her relationship with Shawn for over a year.

She even confessed to having put on an "act" for her social-media followers before the breakup.

Kaitlyn concluded of Shawn in late 2021, "I genuinely hope he's just happy in what he's doing. Because at this point, I mean, that would be weird if I felt any other way."

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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