Bachelor Joey Graziadei Reveals the Unconventional Talk He Had with Charity Lawson in the Fantasy Suite

“You would be a fool not to at least have that conversation,” the season 28 lead told Jason Tartick on the June 10 episode of his Trading Secrets' podcast

Joey Graziadei Charity Lawson
Charity Lawson and Joey Graziadei. Photo:

Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty

The Fantasy Suite tends to be the only time a Bachelor or Bachelorette couple spends away from the cameras while filming the show. But now, Joey Graziadei has revealed what he and Charity Lawson discussed during their private night together on her season of The Bachelorette.

When asked by host Jason Tartick on the June 10 episode of the Trading Secrets podcast whether he and Lawson, 28, chatted about “careers, money [or] what future would look like” in any way, Graziadei, 29, revealed that they did.

“It's important to understand what you're trying to see what's next because I think anytime you get into this world, you have to ask the question of what it's going to be like to be in a public relationship,” the tennis pro said. “And that conversation naturally pivots into, well, what do you want to do with all of this?”

Graziadei added that while he and Lawson, who went on to get engaged to Dotun Olubeko, didn’t have “a deep conversation” about those logistics, he found it important to bring it up at all if he and the therapist stood a shot at success after the show.

“You would be a fool not to at least have that conversation to see, like, what do you want to do?” Graziadei said.

The Philadelphia native went on to lead season 28 of The Bachelor, which he ended by getting engaged to Kelsey Anderson. Graziadei told Tartick, 35, that he and Anderson, 26, talked for at least one hour in the Fantasy Suite about how they envisioned their relationship going forward.

Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson attend the New York Premiere of "IF" at the SVA Theater on May 13, 2024, in New York, New York.
Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson at the New York Premiere of 'IF' at the SVA Theater on May 13 in New York City.

John Nacion/Getty

Anderson said that she shared that she was “open” to living their lives publicly “as long as it doesn't taint our relationship.”

“What I remembered was, ‘I will be open to whatever this brings, but as soon as we start doing this for other people, I want out. Like, I'm not doing this unless it's for us,’” Graziadei said.

Anderson proceeded to reveal that she has since quit her job as an assistant project manager due to her and Graziadei’s travel schedules.

“I had to quit. We've been so busy,” she told Tartick. “I felt like it wasn't fair to my job, you know, juggling between all of this and not being able to focus on the project that was at hand. So I ended up quitting. My boss was very kind about it all, and she was like, 'If you ever wanna come back, please let us know.' ”

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Anderson said she felt comfortable quitting because Graziadei offered to help her out financially if she needed assistance.

“Part of it was that Joey was like, no matter what, like, ‘I'll help you if you need help in any sense,’ which, you know, gave me a little bit of financial security because I was like, ‘Oh my God. Am I just gonna, like, what am I gonna do for these couple months of?'” Anderson said, adding that “Joey's my security blanket.”

KELSEY A, JOEY GRAZIADEI
Kelsey Anderson and Joey Graziadei on 'The Bachelor' season 28.

Disney/Jan Thijs

Still, Anderson expressed interest in returning to her project management career one day.

“I always want that security blanket, and I want that career, like, for me, regardless if it's, like, full time or part time,” she said. "Because, yeah, with, like, the opportunities that come. But I would say, like, if I don't fully like it after six months, like, I'd probably quit. Six months to a year.”

Graziadei suggested he might resume working in the tennis industry in the future.

“Tennis has given so much to me,” he told the Talk Money to Me author. “I think I'd be crazy not to have tennis be a part of my life, but also that is something I can always pick back up at a later time because I put so much energy into it.”

Graziadei tossed out sports broadcasting as an additional career option down the line, but admitted that, “I have no idea what I'm doing yet.”

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