Charity Lawson Explains, Defends Shocking First Impression Rose Decision on The …

Her journey has began.

On Monday night, ABC viewers were officially introduced to Charity Lawson on the season premiere of The Bachelorette.

It didn’t take long for the star to stir up a bit of controversy, too.

Despite being warned by her brother (who was undercover, serving as the cocktail party’s bartender) about a certain contestant who had been bragging about kissing her… Lawson handed this same contestant her First Impression Rose.

Why, oh why, did Lawson choose Brayden for this honor?

“He clearly got to see a lot that I did not,” Charity said to Us Weekly after the episode aired.

“He really did remind me in that moment — our conversation, obviously, [was] not all shown — but he did just reassure me that all the guys, or most of the guys, were truly there for me and they were really excited about me being the Bachelorette and this opportunity for them to really get to know me.

“So that made me feel good in the moment despite coming off of like, ‘Oh, Brayden was really vocal around the house with the guys about the kiss.’”

Maybe he was just super pumped about the spit swap, you know?

Lawson also said she tried to look at both sides of the Brayden situation.

“I kind of took that as almost like a two-way street — like, ‘Okay, Brayden is really excited and it could be crossing the line of like confident versus cocky.’

“But also him kind of falling back on all the guys are also just like really excited to be here.

“I was kind of considering that factor too of, maybe, that’s why Brayden was just so vocal because he was just so excited.”

Lawson teased that fans should “keep their eye” on this particular suitor, while concluding that Brayden is “someone who’s very animated and just fun and lively.”

Finally, as for why she chose Brayden over Aaron B. for the First Impression Rose?

The former is a very “good kisser,” Lawson said, adding:

“Aaron B. was, like, truly [his] ego was bruised, but that’s all right! If it wasn’t Brayden, I definitely had my eye on Warwick….

“Obviously Aaron B. [and I] had a really great conversation as well as Xavier. Any of those it could have went to, but ultimately I decided to give the first impression rose to Brayden.”