Becca Tilley on How ‘Fast’ She ‘Fell in Love’ With Hayley Kiyoko, Whether She Identifies as a Lesbian
Not holding back anymore! After going public with her romance with Hayley Kiyoko, Becca Tilley is slowly sharing more details of their relationship — and why she was ready to come out.“So I was prepared for anything and everything, but I was not prepared for the amount of love and support that we got,” the 33-year-old Bachelor alum began on the Monday, May 23, episode of her “Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley & Tanya Rad” podcast, getting emotional. “Hayley has really made me feel brave, and she was always like, ‘People love you and they want to see you happy.’”Tilley confirmed her four-year relationship with Kiyoko, 31, on Friday, May 20, after the former ABC star made a cameo in the musician’s “For the Girls” music video.“I’ve always said, ‘I’ll go public — we can go public if I can be in one of your videos, like, be the video girl.’ And I’m not an actress and she always hires actors, like, legit actresses.
And so she was always like, ‘OK,’” Tilley recalled. “And I just was kind of like, ‘I think I’m ready, like, I think it’s time.’ For four years, you know, it’s been our relationship.”Tilley noted that she never intended to keep her romance with Kiyoko a “secret,” she just wanted it to be “private” from social media.“We were very much ourselves.
We held hands in public. We kiss. If I met someone … I introduce her [as] my girlfriend, Hayley. I never was like, ‘This is my friend or my best friend,’” she explained. “I really made an effort to make sure that there was that distinction between private and secret.”Tilley, who appeared on Chris Soules and Ben Higgins’ respective seasons of The Bachelor, went on to thank everyone who made an effort to protect her privacy, including those in Bachelor Nation.“I knew I had a big
