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CANNES — It’s “miracle season” at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival.
Eric Bigger — who famously coined that phrase during Rachel Lindsay’s season of “The Bachelorette” in 2017 — talked exclusively to Page Six about his intense but rewarding journey on reality TV.
“The show healed me. It was free therapy,” Bigger, 35, told “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast co-hosts Evan Real and Danny Murphy Monday during a taping at Spotify Beach, where top-tier creators were invited to record special episodes.
“Most of my life was people-pleasing, saying yes, making everybody happy,” the Bachelor Nation star explained.
In the midst of vying for Lindsay’s heart on Season 13 of the female-led dating show, Bigger asked himself a series of tough questions that led him to prioritize his mental health.
“Eric, do you love yourself? Do you accept yourself? I said, ‘I don’t. I only love and accept myself when I’m making someone happy, helping someone or being successful,’” he said, recalling his internal dialogue.
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“It was a childhood wound,” Bigger continued, adding that his desire to stand out and be accepted stemmed from past “trauma.”
The Los Angeles resident further disclosed that there was a therapist on set of “The Bachelorette,” but it took him “eight or nine weeks” to seek help.
His struggles were not only a shock to the therapist, who thought he was navigating the “Bachelorette” experience with ease, but his loved ones who he told later.
Bigger’s decision to detail his mental health struggles “triggered” those in his inner circle, he said, because he appeared to be “doing just fine” on the outside.
The social media influencer noted that his close friends and family members are proud of the progress he’s made — and thrilled that he gets to speak about his trials and triumphs in the South of France.
“I literally called my grandmother, just my mom and my dad, and I had to acknowledge them for everything. Just bringing me here, being in my life,” said Bigger, who attended the Cannes Lions Festival with Influential and spoke on a panel about the importance of diversity and inclusion.
The Maryland native — who nearly became the first black “Bachelor” before Matt James made history in 2020 — elaborated, “I always had visions in my mind that I wanted to travel the world and speak. This is like a dream of what I’m supposed to be doing.
“This is the next phase of going into my higher self, my more authentic self.”
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