The Bachelorette star Charity Lawson has revealed the real-life challenges she and fiance Dotun Olubeko have already faced together after the show.
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Charity selected Dotun as her The Bachelorette winner, and the couple got engaged during the Season 20 finale that aired on August 21 on ABC.
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Ever since going public as a couple, Charity and Dotun have been navigating the real world as partners — and they apparently faced a little adversity right away.
“I will say — am I allowed to share this?” Charity asked Dotun during the couple’s joint interview on the September 7 episode of the “Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe” podcast.
“You know what I’m about to share!” she added.
Dotun gave Charity his blessing to “go ahead” with the story.
“[Kaitlyn Bristowe] said ‘real-life challenges’ and I feel like after [After the Final Rose], we kind of dove right into that,” Charity revealed.
“[Dotun] lost his phone in an Uber, so the very first Uber that we took, he lost his phone. He had to go 48 hours without it. And we had a flight to catch! It was just all of those things.”
Charity admitted that Dotun saw her “frantic” in that moment.
“I was trying to help him and be supportive, but also, I was like, ‘No, we’ve got to catch our flight!’ It’s all these things,” The Bachelorette star recalled. “So he saw all of these sides right off the bat.”
Charity also admitted she and Dotun had to overcome social-media hate and backlash early in their relationship.
“We kind of already hit that bump as the show was airing,” Charity said. “I’m very, like, protective over myself but also this relationship and him. So if I see something… I’m not afraid to clap back.”
She continued, “But it’s knowing every battle is not mine to do. And so [Dotun] has been so helpful in that, in just reminding me, ‘It’s okay. You don’t have to respond to certain things or to everyone, despite how much it may irritate you.'”
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Despite the obstacles, Charity insisted that she and her fiance are “doing swell.”
“We are adjusting very normally — probably as normal as we can,” Charity said of navigating a relationship in the real world after falling in love on a reality TV show.
The family and child therapist shared how she and Dotun “keep evolving” every single day and they continue “growing more and more in love.”
She added, “There’s nothing that feels like… a shift or a disconnect. If anything, we’re just as strong.”
And Dotun, an integrative medicine specialist, agreed with Charity’s take on their post-show romance.
“It’s been smooth, but I don’t have anything to compare it to, right?” Dotun said.
“I don’t know what it’s like for everybody else, but when I look internally, I feel like this is as smooth as it can go, truly, the way that we’re tackling every chapter.”
Dotun pointed out how there was The Bachelorette filming, post-filming, hiding from the press and fans, and then finally coming out as an engaged couple.
“It was hectic… but it’s just been a great time,” Dotun said. “We just continue growing and we’re just so compatible. It’s been great and it’s been fun.”
Dotun, who just partied with Charity in Las Vegas, sweetly concluded, “I’m having fun with this little cookie — this little firecracker — over here.”
The next hurdle Charity and Dotun will face is when Charity competes on Dancing with the Stars’ 32nd season this fall.
However, Charity, a Georgia native, and Dotun, who is originally from Nigeria, will be living together in California during Charity’s Dancing with the Stars stint this fall since the bachelor already currently resides in Fresno.
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Once Dancing with the Stars is over, Charity told BachelorNation.com that she could see the couple potentially staying in California together or moving to New York for a fresh start.
“We’re going to pick and choose what’s going to be best and fitting for the both of us. But, yeah, we’re down to try a few places and just kind of get our footing there. Regardless, we’ll be together!” Charity explained.
Dotun has also told multiple media outlets that he’s very supportive of Charity’s next project and will be cheering her on all season long.
In fact, he even boasted about how he’ll have Charity’s dinner waiting on the table for her once she returns home from a long practice.
Charity chose Dotun as her The Bachelorette winner over runner-up Joey Graziadei, and they have a romantic trip to Greece to look forward to.
“With Dotun, it boils down to a feeling you can’t really place and you can’t really pinpoint; you just have it and it’s there, and when it comes together, you feel alive,” Charity gushed on the finale of her season.
“I love Dotun, and I see, so clearly, a future with him — a future that is going to bring me the most happiness.”
Joey will now be starring on The Bachelor’s 28th season, which starts filming shortly and will presumably premiere in early 2024.
“Obviously, once you see [Joey and I] depart, we just kind of make that shift of like, ‘I will always have respect and love for you, but that doesn’t mean that you’re my person and I’m going to continue to be in love with you,'” Charity explained to Us Weekly.
“So I think we’re just both in great places and I’m obviously wishing him so much success and well wishes on his journey as the Bachelor.”
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About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.