Repairing Relationships

Building Intimacy and Joy into Your Relationships

by Dr. J.R. Bruns and R.A. Richards II

True Love and "The Bachelor's" Brad and Emily

When will America wake up?

Published on July 2, 2011 by J. R. Bruns, M.D. in Repairing Relationships

Brad Womack got down on one knee and proposed to Emily Maynard during the season finale of The Bachelor on March 14. And she said yes!
"I've made so many mistakes and been through so many ups and downs," Brad says to Emily. "I've always believed I would find a woman I was looking for my entire life. I knew it would taking convincing myself to take a leap of faith."
"All it took was coming and here and finding you," Brad continues. "You are so much more than a leap of faith. You are my once in a lifetime. I'm asking you to please give me your forever. Please let me protect you and your beautiful daughter. I love you, Emily. I mean forever! Give you my absolute word."
Brad gets down on one knee. "Emily, please make me happier than I have ever been in my life and marry me," he asks.
Emily accepts! The crowd swoon and the ratings soar! What could be wrong with this?

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Oops, forgot about poor Chantal O'Brien... oh well, no problem!

"Where do I begin," Brad starts off with his pitiful goodbye. "I want to say this - the very first time I laid eyes on you, I felt a connection. The fact that you allowed me to be myself is something I also looked for. You make that very natural. You are someone I have looked for."
But "here's where it gets tough," Brad says. "I have stronger feelings for someone else. I'm so sorry. I want you to know something, from the very beginning, everything we have and will have is very real. I've used every second that you and I were given. It's simply a matter of me having strong feelings for somebody else."

"You are an amazing person," Chantal cries. "Emily is very lucky. It just sucks because I felt so strongly."

Well things are looking up for Chantal- Brad and Emily announced Wednesday that they have broken off their romance that Brad had been looking for his entire life. "We're no longer engaged," an emotional Emily told People after taping an interview, which will air on "The Bachelorette" on July 11.

The single mother told the magazine that she is speaking out to clear up "all the media speculation" in hopes of that she and daughter Ricki, 6, "can move on and get back to normal." So much for Emily being that "once in a lifetime" love "forever". I guess it wasn't "very real" after all. Oh well, it sounded good.

It is an outrage that a television channel licensed by the FCC foists this poison on a gullible public. Instant relationships- just add blarney.

It would be great if real life was like these televised fairy tales. But sadly, it just is not the case. Millions of Americans are shocked to eventually discover that their mirage romances built on physical attraction and charm are just as weak and ephemeral as Brad and Emily's doomed romance.