Life after reality TV roses can feel more like trampled petals than happily ever after, but Hannah Brown proves a broken heart is just the prologue to a fuller story. On House Guest with Kenzie Elizabeth and Barely Filtered with Aurora Culpo, Brown drops some girl-to-girl wisdom on reinvention, confidence, and calling in The One after the cameras cut.
Believe it or not, rebuilding your life after heartbreak doesn’t require moving to Bora Bora or enrolling in the Witness Protection Program. All it takes is a few simple steps to remind yourself—and the world—how worthy you are of having it all. Here’s how she did it—and how you can, too.
Brown admits her post-Bachelorette world looked nothing like the church bell finale she’d imagined. “I just was super jaded,” she admits to Culpo. But sitting in that disappointment forced her to ask new questions about worth and direction.
When her mom nudged her into a “stupid, silly pageant,” Hannah Brown discovered the detour that launched book deals, DWTS trophies, and an unexpected Nashville love story. Moral of the story—the plot twist you dread may be the doorway you need.
Back at age 22, Brown’s radius was small—sorority house, hometown, rinse, repeat. Then came a sudden opportunity. “There’s so many lives that you can live. You can always choose to change and to grow,” she says to Kenzie Elizabeth.
Instead of clinging to a five-year plan carved in stone, she treats life like drafts in Google Docs—editable at any age. Allow the pivot—move cities, start the side hustle, and sign up for the class. Your younger self will thank you.
Confidence didn’t precede Brown’s bold moves; it followed them. “I always say, like, do it scared,” she tells Culpo. She joined Dancing with the Stars, unsure she could remember the choreography, and wrote her first novel, wondering if anyone would care. The takeaway is pure get-er-done grit—courage isn’t a mood, it’s a muscle built by reps. Feel the nerves, send the pitch, book the solo trip—growth hides behind the gulp.
Decision paralysis kept Brown stuck until therapy introduced one radical exercise: list her non-negotiables. “If you don’t claim your values, you’re gonna be living out other values that aren’t the ones that you actually want to be living out,” she says to Kenzie Elizabeth.
Now her values live on her fridge; every invite, DM, or contract gets held against that list. When overwhelm hits, she reminds herself to “just do the next best thing and know that it’s gonna work out,” as she says on House Guest.
Dating app chemistry is excellent, but inner chemistry matters more. Brown told fiancé Adam Woolard early on, “I am messed up,” then committed to therapy that separated confidence (achievement-based) from self-worth (innate).
Healing the gap let Hannah Brown accept a healthy pursuit instead of replaying old drama. Her reminder for anyone swiping through breakup fog: Worth isn’t earned by likes, rings, or résumés—it’s factory-installed and irrevocable.
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