An interesting article an interview with Naomi:
The Bachelor Exit Interview: Naomi Crespo Wishes The Ladies WellThe fun ended on The Bachelor for Naomi Crespo. Single dad Jason Mesnick, having whittled his pool of lovely single ladies down to four, never got Crespo to reveal her true feelings about moving to Seattle and settling down with his three-year-old son, Ty. So no rose for her.
How did she feel about Jason? About the possibility of finding love on TV? She was back in her real life in Texas when we caught up with her and got her side of the story.
Hi Naomi. Thanks for talking with us today. Your hometown date was one of the most unique ones on The Bachelor. Has your mom ever made any of your other boyfriends give a eulogy for a dead bird or anything like that?
Oh gosh, no.That was so embarrassing. Oh my God. My mom has met one serious boyfriend and that was my longest relationship. And obviously nothing that crazy, I mean my mom’s kind of out there but I think she definitely could not wait to make her television debut. So I think that she’s really excited.
Well she does seem really lovable and, it’s kind of a mom thing to embarrass your daughter when their boyfriends come over. You mentioned, she’s never done anything quite that embarrassing, but has she ever done anything else that you know, like a date in high school or anything like that where you were just like, oh God, mom, please?
You know my mom and I, we had a strange relationship for a long time. It’s not - my parents divorced when I was younger. My dad got custody and my mom kind of gave him custody. She was experiencing, I don’t know, I still don’t know what it’s called, midlife crisis or whatever.
But we went to New York with my dad. And I actually kind of spent the rest of my childhood there. I was back for high school, and I had my freshman year in Puerto Rico. I moved out to California in my sophomore year, was living with my sister, my older sister who was always kind of like my motherly figure I guess you could say.
And went to high school, sophomore year there, and then back in New York for junior and senior years. So I didn’t have really a relationship with my mom throughout that time. It wasn’t, she didn’t have the opportunity to do that.
What about dad? I mean he seemed like, a lot more mellow.
Yes.
But did he ever embarrass you in front of a date or anything like that?
You know I love my dad. He’s hilarious because he’s just got the sweetest heart. And my dad he loves me so much. I mean I have overcome a lot of resentment towards both of my parents and there wasn’t always - my relationship with them wasn’t always this way as it is now.
But, people change and people make mistakes and both my parents have owned up to that, you know.
And I think that with my dad he’s just so - he’s so true to like what he believes in and he wants the best for me and he’s just - he wants me to be with, a man of God, and he just wants me to be happy.
And he’s very supportive, and he knows that I’ve kind of grown up on my own and the choices I made in life, I’ve made good choices with my life. And my parents trust my judgment.
So with my dad as far as the embarrassing thing, he’s never done any - like in high school I mean I dated guys. I never really brought guys home and actually my senior year, my junior and senior year I went to a private Christian school out in New York that my dad taught at.
So, all my friends were in class with him. But he’s just so, lovable.
So what’s next for you? Do you think you’re going to try the personal modeling career off of this or are you dating anybody, what’s happening with you?
No, no. You know after I left, I definitely felt like it is the time to go solo and, get myself, get back in touch with myself. And I think the experience was just, it was incredible. Definitely growing, like I grew a lot from it.
And I came off of it just knowing that, having a whole new outlook on what I want in life, who I want - the type of person I want to be with. And, as far as a career, I’m just working right now. I’ve been flying, I’m a flight attendant.
And I’m looking into getting into other careers probably in outside sales or marketing, advertising that sort of thing. It’s been fun flying, but I think I’m ready to move on. As far as the modeling thing, I did that - I have a modeling account on and I did one test shoot.
When I moved out to Austin, I was thinking about getting into modeling then because I worked with a girl. I was bartending at the time. I worked with a girl who was a model and she was booking jobs on there and getting paid like $500 a shoot for like an hour, two-hour shoot. So I’m like oh, I’ll do it for the money.
But no, I’m not actively pursuing a modeling career. If a great offer came my way then, I’d consider it but it’s not what I’m trying to do with my life.
Are you seeing anybody?
No, no. I am just taking time to - I’m waiting. I’m waiting on - like I’ve always had a very strong faith. I’m not by any means the most religious person but I have a strong faith.
And coming out of this situation with Jason, the next day I was just praying and praying, praying and I felt like when that right guy comes along, I’m going to be patient. And God’s got somebody out there for me and I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I just got to focus on me right now.
And, focus on getting myself stable again into a career and, that sort of thing. And when the right guy comes along its going to be worth it.
Jason said that your family’s antics and stuff on that hometown date didn’t play a role in the elimination. Do you believe that?
I do believe that. I had a tough time that night because Jason, I think he’s intuitive. And I think that as far as the way he felt about letting me go, deep down inside it didn’t matter what I said. That’s just what he felt. You know he’s like, I can’t, as far as me not being ready at this time in my life.
I think that the reason that was and I think that in a different situation, obviously outside of this whole experience, I’m ready. I absolutely want kids. I absolutely want a family. But I think that because we weren’t meant for each other, it didn’t feel right.
And so when you feel that, despite what somebody’s telling you, it’s very easy to get caught up in that whole world. I think I absolutely got caught up. But there’s a part of me that feels like I definitely built Jason up a lot in my head to the point where I came on the show feeling like I already knew him.
And now that I’ve known him more it was like okay, I don’t know. You know, would this be any different outside of this? Like if we just met in, normal day-to-day life and got to know each other, I just think that, I know what I’m trying to say.
I definitely think that my parents, they’re crazy and maybe it has something to do with it, but I think ultimately in his heart he just felt like I was not the one for him.
You said during the show that you were fully prepared to move to Seattle if you were chosen. Now that you’ve kind of had some time to be away from it, do you still think you would’ve be willing to make the move?
You know what this is weird because I went Seattle. I had never been. And I just fell in love with Seattle. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And I think when you’re in that situation and you make it that far, I went in thinking I didn’t think I’d be on there that long, but, anyway, I had no idea I’d still be there.
But at that point, yeah, your feelings, that’s when you start getting emotionally invested in the person and just thinking about a life with that person. And, it definitely helped that I loved Seattle. I was like wow, I totally see myself living here.
But as far as now, having come out of it in hindsight, I’m looking on it with a more I guess clear picture of like the way I was thinking. You know and I can absolutely say that I think I got very caught up in it and it’s hard not to. It is really hard not to. When you have this great guy, you’ve got this love person. It’s like I think I got caught more in the idea of it all.
And so in hindsight I realized, there’s things in life that can be a huge blessing in disguise and you can’t know it when you’re going through it. But coming out of it, you can look back and see it. And I think that Jason letting me go was absolutely a blessing in disguise. And I’m so happy now. I mean I don’t regret the experience. I don’t regret anything.
I’m thankful for it. I’m thankful I met him. I’m thankful I met all the girls. And it’s one of those things I know that he and I were not meant to be. So I’m at peace with it, you know.
Tell us about the times that you spent with Jason that weren’t shown. Were there any times that you really liked?
Oh yeah. There is definitely. On our one-on-one date, in Seattle we just had so much fun. It was definitely one of the coolest dates I’ve ever gone on.
You know in between, shooting and this and that we had a lot of great conversation. And I’d given him this little book that I bought at Target. It was like family life and all these really cool pictures from all around the world of different families and different cultures.
And I just wrote him a little note, and we had a lot in common as far as that goes. Like, family-oriented and just that sort of thing. So we had a lot of great moments like that. And that day definitely felt like we were a couple, even off camera. I mean we just were having fun so it was cool, yeah.
A lot of the other women who have gotten eliminated so far, one thing they say about him is that he’s really hard to read. How did you feel about that?
I felt like with Jason, I would have to agree with some of the girls. At times it was very hard to read. And there’s only so much that he’s able to say to us, as far as what he’s thinking and feeling because of, the situation.
But at times, it definitely was on. I felt the chemistry with him. And we had a lot in common as far as the different things that we’ve done, like things that we care about.
And I think we started off kind of more on a friendship level. So that got to grow. But even despite that, yeah, I don’t know that I feel like I totally got to know Jason. That’s what I’m saying is I don’t know in this kind of situation that it’s even really possible. I didn’t get to see him, in his normal day-to-day life.
I think that he - yeah, I mean I think that he was honest with me as far as his reasons for letting me go. Did I see it coming? I think I felt it coming more than anything. And it shows on my face. It shows in the last couple episodes.
The season or the, I’m sorry, the week prior, when Stephanie left that was a really emotional night. And I thought I was going home. I really did. And then when she left, I mean she was just incredible. Stephanie is a, the word amazing, I hate to use the word amazing but she really is. And it was tough.
But I thought I was going. You know I think I felt it more than anything. And I think towards seeing the end, I was kind of hanging on a string and just hoping that like, again to go back to the whole idea. I think I really got caught up in the idea of Jason and the life in Seattle. So coming out of it though, I mean I realized I’m okay, I’m going to be okay and it just wasn’t meant to be.
How did you get to be on The Bachelor?
Well its funny. I was living in LA beforehand. I was up in LA pursuing acting at the time. And the director of the show had been in my restaurant and saw me and, was kind of trying to recruit for the London season. And I said I don’t believe the reality TV and the world of acting should ever intermix.
But I just kind of laughed. I’m like yeah, Bachelor, if I was going to ever do reality TV I don’t think that that would be the show I would do, no offense. And so, I ended up moving to Austin. I kind of gave up pursuing acting as a career, which going into this season, I had - I said I didn’t want to be typecast as that girl because its not what I’m doing anymore.
But I ended up watching one season. And I kept on watching because I was interested. And one night I had gotten home from work. I was working at the time and I’m watching. And all of a sudden I’m just like drinking a couple glasses of wine at this point. I’m like, oh it looks like a lot of fun, actually. Maybe I’ll just apply.
And so, I did and then they got in touch with me and they were really interested. And when I found out - the deal breaker for me was definitely finding out that Jason was chosen as The Bachelor because I knew enough about him to want to meet him.
So that was the deal breaker. And I ended up doing it. And I’m glad I did. You know it was a great experience.
In regards to the other bachelorettes there, who were you closest with on the show?
Oh gosh, all the girls are really, I mean different and unique in their own way. But I developed some close relationships there.
As far as the closest, I would definitely say Jill and Melissa. You know those girls are - they kind of became more like sisters to me. And as far as we were together, I think that’s kind of what set us apart, my closeness with them.
But all the girls are really incredible. You know I know Megan has that whole, the way she comes off on TV or in the drama and this and that. But she is also somebody who I regard highly. So, people will see what they see and you don’t get the whole picture. It’s just not possible.
But you get to know these girls, on a more personal level and all of them, I mean Kari, there’s Nikki, everyone. Erica is hilarious. I mean the house lost lots of laughter when Erica left. I mean there’s things that don’t get shown that I wish did, so that people could get a fuller picture on these girls.
What do you think it is about Jason that people seem to be responding to?
You know I think that on his season, The Bachelorette it was kind of the same way with the final four of us girls. You know he was kind of outside of any drama and he was just himself and he’s got this charisma. He got this - I don’t know. He’s attractive obviously, he’s nice to look at.
So I think its kind of the whole package as far as, why he’s so popular. And it’s obviously why he was voted in. I mean, he had a huge fan base after his season so a lot of people wanted to see him find love.
Is it because he has a kid, that may be also sort of attracts women who are not just on the show?
I think there’s definitely something to that, yeah, absolutely. I think that it’s not just that he has a kid. It’s, the way he comes across and the way he talks about that he’s got a kid, and he just absolutely adores him more than life itself. You know Ty is his whole world.
And to have found somebody that just kind of fits into that was really what he was looking for. Not necessarily a replacement because Ty, what most people don’t know is that he - Ty has a really good relationship with his mother and she’s a good mother to him. I think that all plays into the whole appeal.
Before your hometown date, you looked apprehensive. Did you coach your family in any way, tell them to, you know, keep the colorful antics down to a minimum, anything like that?
I wasn’t able to, but my sister did. And, what you see, is what you get. That’s my family for you. My mom is, oh gosh, sometimes I think she fell off her rocker a long time ago and her head’s never fully recovered. But it is definitely unique. And I knew - I was definitely a little bit apprehensive because I knew that my mom had something up her sleeve. I definitely did not know that it was going to be bringing out a dead bird and giving it the proper eulogy and burial. I mean that was so beyond me, beyond all of us, Jason too.
He reacted real well to that.What was the reaction from your family about that segment of the last show?
I get different reactions. My sister is definitely really disappointed. I think that you don’t want to come off as like the crazy family. I guess I tend to be a little less embarrassed when it comes to my family because I’m just like, you know what? Everybody’s different and that’s my family. Like, I’m a product of somewhere in the middle of that.
But my sister was - she was a little frustrated. You know and I wished that they didn’t show her conversation with Jason and, the three of us were talking for a long time and I really wish they showed that because my sister is my best friend. And she knows me more than even my parents do. So, I guess different things make for good TV.
But my mom she was disappointed that they didn’t show everything that happened. And, at one point there was a conversation I had with my mom and my sister. And she was disappointed that that didn’t get shown.
I told my mom. I saw it obviously and her conversation with Jason. I was a little bit kind of like, you could’ve toned it down a little bit. You know obviously these are your beliefs. But, I’m thinking all America doesn’t really need to know this. It kind of was a little bit embarrassing. But, I’m just whatever about it. That’s my family.
Going back to your elimination you said how you didn’t like that Jason said that the one reason you didn’t want to go home was the reason you were going home. Can you comment on that?
Well I mean I watched that. And I said earlier, at that point you’re so invested in this and you become more emotionally invested. And I think that I built everything up in my head and that was my problem. It’s almost hard not to.
But at that point you’re so like - you’re kind of so wrapped up in this whole idea of being with this person and fitting into their life and I think that he felt like I wasn’t ready to, for Ty. I think that was his biggest thing and that was the week before when he pulled me aside.
I did not throughout the course of the whole thing talk about, oh I can’t wait to meet Ty and tuck him in bed and do this and this and this and that because in my mind I’m thinking, I want to fall in love with you first. And then anything that you’re in love with I’m actually going to fall in love with as well, but let’s work on this first. I wasn’t really trying to get ahead of myself as far as having a relationship with Ty.
So I didn’t talk as much about that. But I absolutely love children. I mean I want kids. I absolutely want kids and it will be with the right guy at the right time.
I want to adopt. See that’s a big thing with me. I definitely - I’ve traveled overseas. I went to Southeast Asia. I worked in an orphanage from or several different orphanages with kids that come from really rough lives, trafficking and AIDs and I wanted to adopt every single one of them. I mean, I’m not like a girl who doesn’t want to be a mother. I absolutely want to be.
And my niece and nephew, I mean they’re like kids to me. I love them like they’re my own. They’re my sister’s kids, but I know for a fact I will be a mother and I will be a great mother one day. I just think it wasn’t meant to be with Jason.
So who are you rooting for out of the three remaining girls?
Oh my gosh, well Jill or Melissa. I mean those two are like I love them. I love them to death. I mean it was nothing. I mean I think Molly is great too. I just I didn’t get as close with Molly as I did with those two girls.
But Jason will be happy with any one of them though. I think that I left really trusting that I was leaving three great girls behind.
Don’t miss the next episode of The Bachelor, Monday at 8:00 on ABC.
Link to the article: http://www.fancast.com/blogs/the-bachelor/the-bachelor-exit-interview-naomi-crespo-wishes-the-ladies-well/