'The Bachelorette' 2017: Rachel Lindsay To Lead Season 13, Making History [VIDEO]
Rachel Lindsay is making history as the first black woman to become The Bachelorette.
Lindsay is slated to be the focus of the next season of The Bachelorette. The 31-year-old is currently on the 21st season of The Bachelor, where she has made it to the Final Four. Considering Lindsay is set to become the new Bachelorette, it stands to reason that she won't be finding love with Bachelor Nick Viall.
"I'm happy to represent myself as a black woman in front of America and I'm happy for America to rally behind me and see what it's like for me to be on this journey to find love," Lindsay told People on Monday. "Honestly, it's not going to be that different from any other season of 'The Bachelorette'."
Not only is Lindsay the first black woman to lead The Bachelorette, she is the first black person in general to lead a Bachelor/Bachelorette season. There still hasn't been a black Bachelor.
"I'm obviously nervous and excited to take on this opportunity but I don't feel added pressure being the first black Bachelorette, because to me I'm just a black woman trying to find love," she noted. "Yes, I'm doing on this huge stage, but again my journey of love isn't any different just because my skin color is."
The diversity problem has been a topic of conversation for years, and relatively new ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey suggested at the Television Critics' Association presentation last August that a change was coming.
"I think one of the biggest changes that we need to do is we need to increase the pool of diverse candidates in the beginning because part of what ends up happening as we go along is that there just aren't as many candidates to ultimately end up in the role of the next Bachelor or Bachelorette so that is something we really want to put some effort and energy towards," she explained.
The Bachelorette will premiere May 22 on ABC.
