Michelle Money, who is arguably the craziest most controversial contestant on this season of the Bachelor, is once again making headlines for the wrong reasons.
Whether it be waking up with a random mysterious black eye on the show or being overly aggressive with Brad Womack, Michelle is definitely making her mark on the show.
The latest is now a Life & Style magazine cover story in which Michelle herself admits she had an affair with NBA star Carlos Boozer — while he was married. Michelle tells Life & Style, “Yes, I was in a relationship with Carlos while he was still married. What I did was wrong.”
Michelle, an actress and single mother to 5-year-old daughter Brielle, claims what any good homewrecker claims, which is that she was under the impression Carlos was separated from his wife Cece at the time, though he didn’t file for divorce until March 2009, while he and Michelle were already involved.
“I should never have been so naive to assume what I was told was true,” Michelle says. “I’m not trying to shy away from the fact that he was still married. I don’t put that on Carlos. I don’t put that on anyone but myself. I feel terrible for Cece for that pain she’s had to go through and that I am a part of it.” Following Carlos’ split with his wife, he and Michelle ended things in June 2009. “All I can do,” Michelle says, “is try to do better with my life. I screwed up. But I can only try to do the best I can.”
In other Bachelor news, tonight’s episode, which has yet to air, is already proving to be a controversial one. The reason? It all has to do with a NASCAR date involving Emily Maynard.
See Emily, 24, a single mother to a young daughter, was 19-years-old when her then fiance and race car driver Ricky Hendrick died in a plane crash. A few days later, Emily discovered she was pregnant.
So while most people can imagine the kind of pain and trauma Emily has been through, it seems the producers of the show aren’t quite seeing it the same way. Emily’s first date with Brad had her flying on a small plane with him, something she was scared to do of course, but that wasn’t enough for the producers as her group date with Brad on tonight’s show has them visiting a NASCAR track. In the preview clips shown, Emily can be seen having a negative reaction to the date.
In a new interview with PEOPLE magazine, host Chris Harrison is defending the show and the date, claiming it was already planned before Emily was cast.
“This date and season were set up before Emily was cast. She ended up on the NASCAR date by happenstance. But we’re not stupid. We knew her story by that point so we had a choice to make. We could have told Brad or warned Emily. We chose to let the real-life drama play out,” says Chris. “It forced Emily to face demons I don’t think she’s dealt with. It also forced Brad to learn the rest of the story … It was either going to blow up in their face with Brad realizing, “I can’t handle this. I can’t replace this guy,” and Emily realizing she’s not quite ready, or they would move through it.”
The new episode of the Bachelor airs tonight on ABC at 8/7c. A photo of Emily and Ricky is below.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SEASON OF THE BACHELOR SO FAR & MICHELLE’S ADMISSION? IS EMILY’S NASCAR DATE TOO CRUEL?
