Becca Tilley recalled the discussions she had with Hayley Kiyoko "about being public and being private" in E! News' exclusive sneak peek at her interview on Mal Glowenke’s Made It Out podcast.

While Becca Tilley's journey on The Bachelor played out in front of millions of fans, she wasn't ready to make her relationship with Hayley Kiyoko quite as public at first.

But that's not to say she was keeping their love a secret, either.

"Hayley and I had a lot of conversations about being public and being private," Becca said in E! News' exclusive sneak peek at the May 14 episode of Mal Glowenke's Made It Out podcast. "She was like, 'I am so proud, and I have worked so hard to be proud of who I am that I don't want to feel like I'm back in the closet.' And I'm like, 'I also don't want you to feel like that. But if you can kind of see my perspective, I'm navigating being a public person, and having a public platform, being from The Bachelor, it is really hard.'"

The reality star explained that, given her Bachelor background, she didn't think everyone would give her relationship with the "Curious" singer a rosy reception.

"Most of my followers are conservative, and it's going to be shocking to them that this person that they viewed as a 'role model' is now dating a woman," she continued. "Like, it's gonna be a weird backlash."

For Becca, it came down to wanting Hayley to understand how their experiences shaped their perspectives.

"You're so loved for who you are," she remembered telling the musician. "The reason that you feel so comfortable and confident in who you are is because you're so loved because of that and for that. And you've made so many people feel seen and confident in themselves because of that. But I don't come from the same world."

But Becca stressed that not making their romance Instagram official didn't mean it wasn't an important part of her life.

"I made a promise," the 35-year-old noted. "I was like, 'I never want you to feel hidden.' So it will always be that it's private in the terms of it's not on social media. But if we were out and someone came up and said, 'Oh my gosh! I love your podcast,' and I was with Hayley, I would be like, 'Oh this is my girlfriend Hayley.'"

Fans met Becca on Chris Soules' season of The Bachelor in 2015, where she was one of the final two women, and she returned to the mansion the following year to pursue Ben Higgins. Though she didn't get their final roses, she formed a relationship with another member of Bachelor Nation, Robert Graham, later in 2016 and they dated until 2017.

However, Becca knew she hadn't met the one until she found Hayley.

"I had never been in love before," she continued on the podcast, produced by Mathilde Jourdan. "Everyone would talk about falling in love and I'm like, 'I don't think I have that in me. Like what y'all are talking about, never felt.'"

Becca confirmed their relationship in a May 2022 Instagram post around the time Hayley, 33, released the video for her hit "For the Girls"—in which she took on the Bachelorette role to find the right woman and Becca appeared at the end. The "Girls Like Girls" artist then shared they had been dating since 2018, when they met at the release party for her album Expectations.

In fact, the couple—who've since given several glimpses into their life together—recently celebrated their sixth anniversary.

"We met 2192 days ago (6 years!!)" Becca wrote on Instagram April 4. "I wore a shirt that said 'no time for romance.' Hayley ignored it. We fell in love so quickly. It really is a cosmic mystery how someone can be a stranger in one moment and quickly become the most important person in the next."

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by ELYSE DUPRE

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