Support! Nick Viall’s ex-fiancée, Vanessa Grimaldi, sent love to former Bachelor contestant Madison Prewett after the season 21 star publicly slammed her.
The 24-year-old starlet shared a stunning photo of herself in a gold, sequined gown on May 4. “OK,” Vanessa, 32, commented with three fire emoji. “Love and miss you,” Madison replied with a red heart emoji. The two are surprisingly all over each other’s Instagram accounts and have frequently sent love to one another. It’s unclear how the ladies met or initially crossed paths, but it’s most likely through their mutual talent agent Lori Krebs.
Vanessa and the Alabama native seem to bond over their shared experience of being former contestants on the Bachelor. Nick, 39, got engaged to the Canadian beauty during the finale of his season, but they split five months later. At the time, they said they were “saddened” things didn’t work out in a joint statement. However, Vanessa said years later she “didn’t want to get engaged” but did it out of fear of receiving “backlash.” As for Madi, she was the runner-up on Peter Weber’s season before eliminating herself ahead of decision day. The pilot, 28, got engaged to Hannah Ann Sluss at the end of his season, but they broke up shortly after because Peter still had feelings for Madi. The former flames briefly rekindled their romance after filming but announced they “mutually” went their separate ways for good on March 13 — two days after they appeared together on After the Final Rose.
Nick inserted himself into Peter and Madi’s drama and has called her out on his podcast, “The Viall Files,” during the April 27 episode. Despite Vanessa being Team Madison, the reality stud has not been afraid to share his feelings about the former college athlete. He shaded Madi over the time she left a comment on her own Instagram that read, “Beautiful date, Madi, You are so genuine and real,” after her first one-on-one date with Peter. Fans thought the contestant was running her own fan account and forgot to toggle between the profiles. Her friend later took responsibility for the social media faux pas. “Oops. Thought I wrote that comment about being real [and] genuine from my account but was logged into Madi’s from when she back from filming. Don’t hate me, @MadiPrew,” her pal wrote at the time. Although people were skeptical of the explanation, fans quickly forgot about the embarrassing incident as Madi became a frontrunner on the show.
“We also know Madison to be a little bit of a liar. It’s true!” he said while Facetiming ET host Lauren Zima for the remote episode. “I mean, people wanna forget. I know Madison wants to forget it. But, her Instagram. That’s not an allegation. It’s a fact she did that.” Nick saw the whole incident as a major red flag. “I’m more critical of that, and I know Madison thinks I don’t like her, and I know people think I’ve been hard on Madison. I think she’s just fine, I’ve even defended Madison,” he continued. “But if you’re gonna be righteous and you’re gonna be pious, and you’re gonna like talk about your relationship with God, and how you want to be an example to young women, blah blah blah blah blah, then I hold you to a higher standard.”
The former Bachelor in Paradise star also called out that the home seen on Madison’s hometown date did not actually belong to the Prewett family, which The Sun reported. “Don’t be a liar, don’t be vain. I’m vain, I can be vain! Don’t have your family use Bruce Pearl‘s house for your hometown and sell it as your own home. When it’s not your home!” Nick said.
The Wisconsin native later doubled-downed on his statements but noted that he doesn’t “hate” the starlet. “I have disagreed with some of her decisions she made public. I have also agreed with other things she made public,” the former Bachelor explained on his Instagram Stories on May 3. “I have a podcast and I give my opinions about the things people make public when using their platforms. I made my opinion public, some people criticized me for it. That’s OK … Conversation and disagreement are healthy.” He added that he would have Madi on his podcast, although he thinks the chances of that are slim. “I would love to be wrong,” Nick quipped.
It looks like Madi has found a friend with Vanessa!