‘I just want someone to touch me’: Ex-Bachelor star’s confession

Publicly dumped by the Honey Badger and single for a decade, The Bachelor’s Brittany Hockley reveals she was afraid her past made her “desensitised to human affection.”

Former The Bachelor Australia breakout turned successful influencer and podcaster Brittany

Hockley describes herself as an independent person. So maintaining a long distance relationship with her tennis-star boyfriend Jordan Thompson isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

“It’s not that bad, I’m used to being alone. And we talk twice a day on the phone,” Hockley tells Stellar On Friday. “I mean, I’ve been single for a decade so trust me to fall in love with someone who is only in the country for four weeks a year.”

Brittany Hockley with her tennis-star boyfriend. Jordan Thompson. (Picture: Instagram)

“I’m a d*ckhead. I mean, I call myself a nerd burger.” (Picture: Damian Bennett

Still, she admits she has been thrown for a loop by one notable absence. “This sounds a bit deep, but after being single for [so long] I thought I’d become desensitised to human affection and touch,” says Hockley.

“I’d forgotten that it felt like to have a close, physical relationship – so I definitely miss that. I’m not a needy person but I’ve found myself getting massages once a week so someone touches me!”

Hockley and Thompson were dating for four months before he had to leave for overseas to compete in the tennis-tournament bubble. Hockley – who is a hospital radiographer – says that while a standing invitation to join him is in place, she wants to stay put in Australia and focus on her acting career and the podcast she co-hosts with fellow The Bachelor alum Laura Byrne.

Of course, she says, things may change come 2022. “I’m 33 and I really wanted to focus on

my career, but maybe I will go with him next year. Let’s see how we go.”

And while most reality-television contestants come off their respective shows trying to prove to the public they weren’t the simpleton we presumed them to be thanks to their on-screen edits, Hockley is the opposite.

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She says her current ventures allow her to showcase a different side to the person many saw during Nick “The Honey Badger” Cummins’ season as well as her stint on Bachelor In Paradise.

“I’m really lucky I’ve been able to show my real personality,” she says. “I was quite sombre on The Bachelor but really I’m a d*ckhead. I mean, I call myself a nerd burger.”

Hockley has also taken a step back from her medical career to focus on her film and presenting roles. However, the lessons she’s learnt working in emergency will never leave her.

“I feel like I live three lives. One minute I’m in a high fashion Stellar shoot, the next I’ve got no make-up on and wearing my baggy scrubs at 2am,” she says. “I love my emergency work. I’ve been doing it for a decade and I feel grateful for that experience. It’s made me so grateful for what I have. It’s a cliché, but it has taught me life is short.”