Who is Manny James? 'The Bachelor' Matt James cried after his dad appeared on the show in penultimate episode
Everyone following 'The Bachelor' Season 25 and the leading man Matt James' Instagram page knows that he's very close to his mother Patty Cuculo James. The former wide receiver for Wake Forest University's Football program has been giving Patty a shout-out on his Instagram page every year. Patty also made an appearance in the premiere episode of the season, where Matt explained he was raised single-handedly by his mother and that he didn't have much of a relationship with his father who had continued to remain distant for as long as he could remember.
Matt always dreamt of having a conventional family, he said it once during his 2019 interview with his Wake Forest Magazine. Patty too had confirmed this during an ABC News interview in 2019. "He was always drawn to families where the mom and dad were together," she had told the outlet's New York affiliate while talking about Matt's non-profit ABC Food Tours. Season 25 of 'The Bachelor', no matter how doomed it has been, is inching toward closure. Matt's father might have been absent throughout his life but he made an appearance on the show right before Matt had to choose the woman he'd give an engagement ring to. Here's what you need to know about him.
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Who is Matt James' father Manny James?
Tyler Cameron, at the beginning of this season, had confirmed that his best friend Matt is looking for someone like his mother and will end up choosing the one who has all the characteristics that Patty possesses. "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling," Matt had quoted from the Bible reiterating Patty's importance in his life on Father's Day 2020.
Matt began this episode with some words of advice and a couple of guidelines from Patty but the upcoming episode, the penultimate this season will see Matt's father Manny make an appearance. That is one of the possible reasons he's seen crying in the promos that have been airing since the beginning of the season. Blogger Reality Steve put out a confirmation of sorts saying that Manny was there for an episode. "Just like last season where I reported [producers] were trying to get [Kelsey Weier]'s dad to show up for her hometown date, I guess they succeeded with Matt's. He also added, "I don't know the outcome. If it was contentious, if Matt got closure, if it's a touching moment, etc. Not sure."
In a preview for the episode, Matt was seen sitting outside looking physically distressed while also trying to take deep breaths. He told Chris Harrison he wasn't okay and RS believes it's his dad that left him stressed out and allegedly their reunion went pretty smoothly. "Either he'd just met him or was just told his dad is there to speak with him," the blogger wrote.
"I know immediately people will think this is a low blow by the show because clearly, they didn't consult Matt beforehand. This is why I think that this meeting between Matt and his dad probably ends cordially at least," he added. "But when it's over, Matt probably feels better. I can't imagine for the life of me that Matt calls it a disaster/walks off set/f-bombs production for bringing him on, etc," he concluded.
What is Matt James' ethnicity?
Matt is biracial. Speaking about his ethnicity, Matt told Chris Harrison, "My mom is white, my dad is Black. It was hard for me because I didn’t want to do things to upset White people and then I didn’t want to do anything to upset Black people.”
Matt James invited his father Manny to the Nemacolin resort to have some difficult conversations and have closure on what happened in the past. Matt had grown up without him and it was mainly his mother Patty who raised him and his brother. Defending his absence, Manny said, "Do you know what I went through with your mom when you were 2-3 years old. Your mom was gone for good. No one is perfect, you are not perfect."
After talking about everything including the fact that Matt didn't need the occasional shoes and pizza drop-off and needed a father instead, Manny apologized and when he left the resort, it looked like their relationship just became ten times better than before.
Catch new episodes of 'The Bachelor' Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC.