Another Bachelor Nation romance brewing? Madison Prewett played coy about her connection with Mike Planeta after the twosome were spotted out together earlier this month.
“I will say Mikey is an amazing guy,” the 25-year-old reality TV personality said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast while promoting Made for This Moment. “I’m in a season right now of fully focusing on my book, fully focusing on where God has me right now. And honestly, I don’t think I could be in a relationship right this second even if I wanted to, just because my life is so busy and crazy. But I’m just really focusing on myself, focusing on this book and getting this message out there, trying to reach as many people as I can with this message. And we’ll see what unfolds, we’ll see what happens.”
Prewett and Planeta, 31, who appeared on season 17 of The Bachelorette, were both candid about their faith and waiting to have sex until they are married during their respective seasons on the ABC franchise. In her book, Prewett reflects on telling Bachelor 24 Peter Weber about her decision ahead of the fantasy suite dates.
“Everyone’s like, ‘You know what you’re getting yourself into when you go on that show.’ I’d actually never watched The Bachelor, so I truly didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” she told Us. “And even if I did, you really don’t 1), you don’t know how far you’re going to make it. And 2), you don’t know what you’re going to be feeling, you don’t know what you’re going to be faced with. And for me, I’ve always viewed myself and my life as no matter what environment I’m in, no matter where I’m at, I’m never going to lower my standards. I’m never going to change myself. And I’m never just going to OK something that doesn’t sit right in my heart and that doesn’t align with the vision that I have for my life.”
While she acknowledged that “a lot of people” took her conversation with Weber, 29, about him being intimate with other contestants as an “ultimatum,” she told Us it was a way of saying, “‘Hey, these are my values and my beliefs and convictions, if we’re going to do life together and you want to marry me, which I’m not pressuring you to do, that’s your choice. But if you do want to be with me and you do want to choose me, you have to know, this is how I view this. And this is how I feel about this.’”
Overall, Prewett told Us that it’s “definitely harder” for her to date post-Bachelor.
“Not knowing what people know about you, not know about you, their intentions — it definitely makes it a little bit more difficult,” she explained. “But I mean, I’m someone who knows exactly what I want. I know exactly what I need. I don’t really waste my time, like, talking to a bunch of people or going on a bunch of dates. I can tell pretty quickly if it’s someone that I would be interested in, I can tell pretty quickly if our vision and purpose for our life would align [and] if our beliefs and values align. And I’m pretty picky when it comes to finding someone. It makes it a little bit harder and a little bit more difficult, but I know that when that right person comes, it’s going to make it so much sweeter and better.”
As a result, the Auburn alum opted not to compete on season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise.
“I had to shoot that one down,” she told Us with a laugh. “Unless God speaks to me … that is not something that I have in my mind or on my radar to do. A bunch of my friends did it and had their experiences. But for me, I felt like — this is probably not going to make sense to anyone until they read my book — but I felt like I was supposed to go on The Bachelor, felt like I was called to be there, didn’t know why, didn’t know what it was going to look like, had no idea it was going to play out the way that it did. I’m grateful for that now. But along the journey through the process, it was crazy. But now, presented with the same situation, like, ‘Hey, do you want to go do this?’ I just don’t know that I would again, unless I felt kind of that peace again to do so. I would love to meet someone the organic way.”
For now, Prewett is gearing up for the Tuesday, October 19, release of Made for This Moment: Standing Firm with Strength, Grace, and Courage, telling Us that she touches on “so many different” topics in the memoir, but wants to help others know their “purpose” and find their courage.
“I’m praying that for those who read my book, they see that they were made on purpose and for purpose,” she explained. “That they have so much to give, they learn to love themselves. They learn to embrace how they were made, and they learn how to fight for their identity and stand firm in their faith and in their beliefs and know that the way we respond to pressure matters, but the way we prepare matters just as much. And I am tired of seeing a generation just kind of go off of just emotions and feelings and off of what everybody else is doing. And so my hope and prayer is that I would see a generation rise up and say, ‘I don’t care [about] everything else that’s going on and what everyone else is doing, this is who I am, this is what I’m called to do, and I’m going to rise in encouraging that.’”