‘The Bachelorette’ on ABC: Who are Gabby Windey’s ex-boyfriends? A timeline of the reality star's love life

Gabby Windey talks about her exes, whom she dated before her rise as a Reality TV star
Gabby Windey (L) dated Dean Unglert (C) and Blake Horstmann (R) before her rise as a reality TV star (Dara-Michelle Farr via Getty Images, Photo by Michael Tran/Getty Images, and Photo by Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images)
Gabby Windey (L) dated Dean Unglert (C) and Blake Horstmann (R) before her rise as a reality TV star (Dara-Michelle Farr via Getty Images, Photo by Michael Tran/Getty Images, and Photo by Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images)

The 31-year-old reality TV star Gabby Windey first gained global recognition as one of the most loved contestants on ‘The Bachelor’ Season 26. She also quickly ended up becoming fans' favorite when she made it to the top three finalists on ABC’s hit reality show. Interestingly enough, the former bachelor Clayton Echard had been impressed by her from the beginning itself.

Windey is all set to start her crazy and quirky ride on July 11 as the female lead in ‘The Bachelorette’ Season 19 on ABC alongside Rachel Recchia in the quest of finding their true loves. But like many people, before her career as a reality TV star, even Windey has had her own shares of failed relationships and exes. Even after the messier finale of ‘The Bachelor’, she still is an optimistic person, determined to find the love of her life this time.

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Who are Gabby Windey’s ex-boyfriends?

Dean Unglert

The reality starlet had dated the former ‘Bachelor’ Dean Unglert in their early college days, long before their careers in the industry as stars. In an October 2021 episode of his Apple podcast show 'Help! I Suck at Dating', Dean described Gabby as the “second love of my life, if you will.” The former flames dated for more than a year when they were in college at the age of 19.



 

During one of the episodes of 'Talking It Out With Bachelor Nation' podcast back in January 2022 whilst opening up about her past relationships with co-hosts Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo during the episode, Gabby Windey admitted that Dean Unglert had been one of her ‘first loves’ after they dated whilst being in college, more than twelve years ago. She said, “It was just so long ago. It’s a distant past from my experience on The Bachelor and you know, Clayton Echard and I’s story, it’s very much its own thing. I’m always really grateful that it was so far in the past, so I could focus more on Clayton and kind of separate that.”

She also added, “There’s so many things kind of running through my mind. I’m experiencing all new things. All you know, pretty good things. When I came home, you know, we don’t have our phones for when we’re filming and then I came home to, like, all this stuff that Blake and Dean had been talking about me, it seems like all really positive things, which, you know, I’m grateful for.”



 

Dean Unglert in his October 2021 episode on the 'Help! I Suck at Dating' Apple podcast, giving a brief insight into his previous relationship with Gabby said, “She was, like, one of the main exes. 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 that you dated 10 years ago’. 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.’ And I firmly believe that.”

Blake Horstmann

It is true that the stunning reality star Windey had also previously dated the ‘Bachelor’ star, Blake Horstmann. Speaking about a real story related to her and Blake’s relationship during the same podcast with co-hosts Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo, Windey said, “Blake and I had mutual friends. We never actually went on a date. There was no drinks paid for. No dinner paid for. Blake’s saying we dated … He’s definitely friends of friends. You know, we had spent time together and stuff but definitely no, like, official dating, like, no really kind of formal, no exclusivity and again, it was a really long time ago.”

Blake on his part finally spoke up about their previous relationship on an episode of his 'Behind the Rose' podcast. He said, “We like the same girls, man. I didn’t know Dean until obviously, like, 2018, but Gabby was a good friend of one of my very good friends from college, they were roommates. I met Gabby long before I was on The Bachelorette, like, I want to say maybe 2015 or 2016. We hung out for a little bit, so I know her very well. And Dean, I don’t know how it came up, but one time, me and Dean were sitting there. I think we were in Buffalo, and he mentioned Gabby and I was like, How do you know Gabby?. And he was like, Dude, she was, like, my girl in college, you know we were in love and blah blah.”



 

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Giving details about the time that he met and dated Gabby in his podcast, Blake added, “I was hanging with Gabby when she was about 23. It was a very long time ago, so Gabby could have changed a ton. She could be a different person. But from what I remember, she was obviously beautiful, and a lot of fun to be around. She’s the life of the party. She’s very outgoing, easy to get along with. I'm excited to watch her. I don't know if she'll win, but she doesn’t, I wouldn’t be shocked if she’s Bachelorette.”

‘The Bachelorette’ Season 19 would be globally premiering on Wednesday, July 11, 2022, at 8 pm ET on ABC.

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