Charity Lawson Named New Bachelorette: “I’ll Be Making People Proud”

The strong rumor has become an official reality.

On Tuesday night, about two weeks after we first heard she had landed the role, ABC came out and made the announcement:

Charity Lawson will be the next Bachelorette!

“I’ve waited forever to find the love of my life,” Lawson told Jesse Palmer on The Bachelor Women Tell All special, which concluded with Lawson learning of her honor.

“It blows my mind that I could meet my person and be engaged and literally have my happily ever after.”

Just a day earlier, viewers witnessed Zach Shallcross send Lawson home after meeting her family in Georgia on Season 27 of The Bachelor.

During this hometown visit, Lawson told her potential spouse that she was “falling in love,” but the feeling was not reciprocated.

“I took a big risk, obviously, coming here and putting my heart out on the line,” she told Shallcross after getting sent home on the episode.

“And I knew that from night one the moment that you spoke and the moment that I knew it was you, I knew that this experience was going to be something incredible. It’s bittersweet for sure.”

Alone in an SUV on her way to the airport, Lawson reacted with a bit more anger.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“It makes no f-cking sense to me. Sometimes that’s just the way life goes and it sucks, but it just means I’m one step closer to finding who I need to be with.”

And now she’ll get to be in charge of finding that person, as well.

“I’m so ready to get engaged to the right person,” she told the cameras on Tuesday’s Women Tell All installment.

Earlier in the season, Charity opened up about experiencing “occurrences of infidelity” in a previous relationship.

“The relationship prior to being here was … it was an emotionally abusive relationship for me,” she said during her one-on-one date in Estonia, adding at the time:

“I never honestly felt what it feels like to be seen as a partner or to be seen as a girlfriend.”

Lawson, meanwhile, will only be the second Black Bachelorette in history, creating the sort of pressure that she apparently craves and looks forward to.

“I can’t wait to show little girls that look like me being in a position like this is possible,” Lawson said on Tuesday.

“I know that I’ll be making a lot of people proud.”

To keep apprised of where things will be going on Lawson’s season this fall, bookmark our section of The Bachelorette spoilers.

Charity Lawson Named New Bachelorette: “I’ll Be Making People Proud” was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.