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The Bachelorette season 19 is going where no season has gone before. Gabby Windey, 31, and Rachel Recchia, 26, are both looking for love as the Bachelorettes of the season. The BFFs will be supporting each other as they begin their journeys to happily ever after.
So, who is Gabby Windey? After a devastating breakup with Clayton Echard on The Bachelor, Gabby is ready to find her soulmate. Here are 5 key things you need to know about The Bachelorette star.
Gabby was a cheerleader for the Denver Broncos from the 2016 season until the 2020 season. She received the Pop Warner Humanitarian Award in 2021. She became the first woman to earn the honor, which is generally given to NFL players. Gabby’s work as a nurse solidified her as a “model representative for young student-athletes across the nation,” according to the organization.
Other than Clayton, who broke Gabby’s heart during The Bachelor season 26, Gabby has had a close connection with other Bachelor Nation stars. In college, Gabby dated Dean Unglert from Rachel Lindsay’s season of The Bachelorette. “She was, like, one of my main exes,” Dean confirmed in Oct. 2021. “She was my girlfriend from college. Producers called me and were like, ‘Hey, we’re thinking of casting this person, what do you think of her? We know you dated ten years go.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, she’s great. If she gets selected for the show, she’ll either win the show or she’ll be the next Bachelorette.’ I firmly believe that.”
Another one of Gabby’s exes is Blake Horstmann from Becca Kufrin’s season. The pair dated for a few months, according to Blake, who went public with the news in October 2021. “Gabby was a good friend of one of my very good friends from college. They were roommates,” he explained. “I met Gabby long before I was on The Bachelorette. I want to say maybe 2015 or 2016. We hung out for a little bit, so I know her very well.”
However, in January 2022, Gabby clarified that she knew Blake, but said that they never dated. “We never actually went on a date,” Gabby claimed. “There was no drinks paid for. No dinner paid for. He’s definitely friends of friends, you know, we had spent time together and stuff, but no, like, official dating. No really kind of formal, no exclusivity, and again, it was a really long time ago.”
Gabby works as an ICU nurse. She is employed at the University of Colorado Hospital. She was on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re all leaning on each other and it really becomes a new normal kind of fast,” she admitted in 2020. “All of healthcare is ever-changing because we’re always trying to make sure we’re doing things the best way, which comes with evidence-based practice and re-evaluating the way we’re doing things. So we are used to change, but it’s hard, and of course, it’s different because of the seriousness of it and how many people it’s affecting.”
Gabby was born in O’Fallon, Illinois. She has an older sister named Jazz. During her time on The Bachelor, Gabby revealed that she isn’t close to her mom. “As kids, she was really physically affectionate, and then she would, like, flip and kind of withhold her love,” Gabby said. “I was just like, ‘If my mom could stop loving me, why can’t anyone else?’”
Gabby is very close to her dad, who took part in her hometown date in a unique way. Her dad’s girlfriend had been diagnosed with cancer before filming, so he didn’t want to risk exposing her to COVID-19 by directly participating. Her dad was able to be a part of the hometown date from a distance, holding up Love Actually-esque cue cards.
Gabby is the proud mom of a Goldendoodle dog named Leonardo. She says that it’s “non-negotiable” that her future partner is on-board with Leonardo because they are a “package deal.”