The Bachelorette contestant Michael Allio tugged at viewers’ heartstrings when he shared how his wife and first love passed away from breast cancer.
Katie chose Michael to receive the second one-on-one date. While he had told her that he had a son, he hadn’t gone into details about his wife’s story.
When he told Katie, she was moved. She revealed that while she hoped to find love half as strong, she didn’t feel the need to compete with the love that he had for his first wife.
Ahead of the episode’s premiere, Michael knew what was to come and uploaded an Instagram post revealing that he was struggling.
He posted a picture of him sitting on a large rock.
He captioned the post, “Heavy mind with a heavier heart.” He also added the hashtags #soulsearching, #findingpeace, #forherforever and #thel1project, which is the organization he founded for his wife after her death.
Bachelorette fans show support for Michael
Michael A. won over Bachelorette fans with his story from Monday’s episode. Following the episode, viewers left supportive and heartfelt messages for the widowed father in the comments section of this post.
One fan complimented Michael on his vulnerability and ability to stay hopeful.
“You seem like the sweetest man with such a pure heart and a great dad,” the user wrote. “Keep staying strong.☺️it’s great actually seeing men on this show that wear their heart on their sleeve.”
Another fan commended him for being brave enough to share his story.
“Your story was very touching and beautiful . Thank you for sharing with Katie [and] Bach nation”
Some viewers are even rooting for him to be the next Bachelor.
Other viewers touched on the way he handled mourning and honoring his late wife.
“Sweet prince. So sorry for your loss, you’re doing a beautiful job keeping Laura’s memory alive,” one user praised.
Another added, “Your story gives me so much hope that it’s possible to fully move through grief.”
Michael and Laura’s story
Michael met and got married to the love of his life, Laura, at their college Loyola University Chicago. They tied the knot in 2012 and welcomed their son, James into the world four years later.
A year after that, in 2017, Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer. Even though the pair sought out treatments from various different researches, Laura lost her battle to cancer less than two years later.
Michael was visibly emotional as he shared he and his wife’s story with Katie.
While he still honors his late wife with The L4 Project and will always have a place for her in his heart, his priority now is raising his son and hopefully becoming lucky enough to find love for a second time.
The Bachelorette airs on Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.