Season 20 of The Bachelorette is premiering next month, featuring the gorgeous Charity Lawson, and we thought it might be a great time to walk down memory lane and recount just how many of the past leads are still with their winner.
Spoiler alert — it’s not that many, but the ladies do seem better at picking long-lasting partners than the men.
After all, there are only three The Bachelor leads who are still with the person they picked, and to be fair, two of them are still pretty new.
When it comes to The Bachelorette leads, they’re really only ahead by one couple, but they did it in fewer seasons, and the marriages that have made their way from this hit ABC show have arguably stood the test of time.
With Charity Lawson leading the way for Season 20, we’re hopeful that the women can prove to be great again.
But before that season starts, let’s talk about the woman who paved the way, being named the first Bachelorette lead and still married to her winner, who is coming up on her 20th wedding anniversary this year.
Trista Sutter led the way for The Bachelorette’s success
Trista Sutter (nee Rehn) was named the first Bachelorette, with the premiere season of the show running in January and February of 2003.
She and Ryan Sutter, a handsome fireman, said their vows in December of that same year. Trista was famously paid $1 million to allow ABC cameras to film a 3-part special called Trista & Ryan’s Wedding, which was filmed at The Lodge in Rancho Mirage, California.
Twenty-six million viewers tuned in to see Trista and Ryan say their vows after watching them fall in love just months earlier.
With nearly 20 years of wedded bliss behind them, Trista and Ryan are getting ready to celebrate a big anniversary. And while they have mostly walked away from fame, Trista still updates fans on their lives via social media, most recently celebrating 19 years with Ryan back in December.
They currently live in Eagle County, Colorado, and have two children, Maxwell, 15, and Blakesley, 14.
Three more Bachelorette leads are still married to their winner
After Trista’s successful season of The Bachelorette, there was a seven-season dry spell before making it to another success story.
Enter Desiree Hartsock.
Desiree is another Bachelorette lead featured before Instagram influencers were a thing. Maybe that is part of the reason for her success?
She met Chris Siegfried during her run back in the summer of 2013. They were married on January 18, 2015, and are still together today.
Desiree and Chris live in Portland, Oregon, with their sons, Asher, 6, and Zander, 4.
Three seasons later, JoJo Fletcher was passed the Bachelorette crown and went on to meet Jordan Rodgers, who just happened to be the younger brother of NFL great Aaron Rodgers — though the brothers are estranged.
JoJo’s season aired in the summer of 2016, and while Jordan won the season, these two took their time in getting married, finally tying the knot on May 14, 2022.
Unlike their predecessors, JoJo and Jordan are much more active on social media and share a lot with their fans. In fact, they are still sharing throwbacks to their wedding, which took place just last year.
The very next season, Rachel Lindsay took over as Bachelorette, and her love story was a success too. The 13th Bachelorette winner was Brian Abasolo, a chiropractor from Florida who had Rachel smitten.
Rachel and Brian met on her season that ran through the summer of 2017 and were married on August 24, 2019. Despite Rachel being from Dallas, Texas, and Brian living in Florida when they met, they have since moved together to Los Angeles, where he is still a practicing chiropractor, and Rachel has found success on TV as a personality on Extra.
There have been eight seasons since Rachel found love, and so far, none of them worked out in the end. We’re hoping that Charity can put an end to that streak and find the love of her life when The Bachelorette begins again.
The Bachelorette Season 20 premieres on Monday, June 26 at 9/8c on ABC.