Bubbly, outgoing, peppy Jenna Cooper was on Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise, where she met sarcastic and dry-humored, Jordan Kimball. The two hit it off immediately and became an item as they went through the show. In fact, Jordan proposed to Jenna in the season finale, and the pair left engaged.
However, the same day the finale aired, things started going downhill for the happy couple, who didn’t stay happy for long. It was rumored that Jenna had cheated on Jordan. Then text messages were leaked where Jenna was supposedly talking to a sugar daddy and running an escort service.
Jordan was extremely hurt and reactive, and the two were broken up quickly, as Jordan chose to believe what he was seeing and not Jenna, despite her denying it all.
While Jenna thought she was leaving with her partner for life, she was also torn apart by not only these claimed allegations but by the fact that her fiancé didn’t believe her word.
Jenna has now decided to speak out on the scandal and how she has healed from that time in her life.
What did Jenna Cooper say about how the scandal affected her life?
She stated while on Us Weekly’s Here for the Right Reasons podcast, “A lot of people ask and I’m fine to talk to about it because now, I don’t know, I’m not as triggered.”
Jenna went on to say, “I don’t think there is a form of justice possible [or] that could heal or fix me completely – or my family who unfortunately had to deal with that, which I hate.”
The entire time, Jenna denied the claims, and Reality Steve even issued a public apology to Jenna a year after the scandal for his part in reporting about it.
Jenna also declared, “I love that the truth is out, but I think, still, nobody knows exactly what happened. I know a lot more than I’ve shared, but there’s even still things I’m figuring out … It is the weirdest, creepiest [situation], like, mysterious stalkers, psycho, lots of narcissists involved.”
Jenna came out of the scandal stronger than before
The whole ordeal has made Jenna stronger, as she stated, “When I think back, [I don’t even know] how I made it through.”
She also said, “As much as I wanna say, ‘I wish it didn’t happen,’ I still wouldn’t change one thing to end up where I am now … I learned a lot and I’m so happy to be out of it. I can appreciate what I got out of it, but it just hurts.”
Speaking about the Bachelor franchise, Jenna claimed, “The Bachelor needs a scandal every season and so somebody has to take that and you’re kind of not allowed to say your side. You’re not really allowed to stand up for yourself [at the time] and looking back, I probably could have a little bit more, but I just kind of took it.” For the entire podcast with Jenna, click here.
Since her time on Bachelor and Paradise, and the whole scandal with Jenna and between Jenna and Jordan, she has gone on to get her happy ever after. She and Karl Hudson had a baby girl back in May 2020, who they named Presley, and the duo just tied the knot in New Orleans last month when they eloped.
The Bachelorette premieres Monday, July 11, on ABC.