From reality TV to a true-life fairy tale. After navigating tragedy, and giving out roses Emily Maynard JohnsonFound The One in Tyler Johnson.
The native of North Carolina was engaged to Ricky Hendrick, a NASCAR driver, before she arrived in Bachelor Nation. Maynard Johnson discovered she was pregnant shortly after her husband’s tragic death in a plane crash aged 24. She gave birth to daughter Josephine Riddick “Ricki” Hendrick in June 2005.
“We were mad at each other. And it didn’t end well. I had no idea that that would be the last time I would see him,” she wrote in her 2016 memoir about her late fiancé. “For days after the crash, I wish I’d died, too. … I just kept on looking forward to June 29th because that was the day I got a piece of Ricky back.”
Seven years later, the former event organizer won Brad Womack’s season ofThe Bachelor. The couple ended their engagement in June 2011, a few months after the finale aired.
“You see it on TV. And there’s this … beautiful music playing. It looks so warm and romantic. But when you’re actually in the moment, it’s not that way at all. It’s so quiet. And it’s actually quite awkward, which should have been warning sign No. 5,000,” she told ABC News in 2016 about the proposal. “But I just chose to ignore it.”
ABC later named Maynard Johnson season 8 Bachelorette. She accepted an offer from Jef Holm. The couple announced their split in October 2012, shortly after the final season aired during summer 2012.
“You don’t get engaged to somebody and then say, ‘Oh hey, Ricki, this is Jef. We just got engaged,’” she told ABC in 2016. “It just didn’t feel right. Nothing about it felt right.”
It wasn’t long before Maynard Johnson was in love again, however, as she reconnected with Johnson, whom she first crossed paths with pre-show.
“I met him at church before I did The BacheloretteHe wanted nothing to do anything with me. I told my girlfriend I met this guy and he could, like, not be less attracted to me, he was in the friend zone,” she recalled on Good Morning America2017
After one year of dating, the automotive management consultant proposed in January 2014. The reality star laughed at the time. People that the engagement would be “my last,” explaining, “I really mean it. I’m actually making it to the marriage part this time!”
Maynard Johnson retorted Us WeeklyHer man also gave her a piece of jewelry at that time.
“He proposed to me at home and gave both Ricki and me rings. It was so sweet. Ricki loves him more than she likes me!” she said.
The couple were married in June 2014 and they have four children together. Scroll down to see their family and romance.
