Ashley Iaconetti has traded the rose ceremonies for real housewife drama, and she’s learning that balancing reality TV stardom with parenting two young kids is no joke. During the Tuesday, May 19 episode of the Almost Famous podcast she hosts with her husband Jared Haibon, the former Bachelor Nation fixture got candid about why filming The Real Housewives of Rhode Island while raising Dawson, 4, and Hayden, 10 months, feels like juggling flaming torches.
“It’s really hard to be a parent while going through all of this,”Iaconetti, 38, told her co-host after recapping a heated argument between herself, Rosie DiMare, and Kelsey Swanson. She’s already bracing for season 2 production, which means the juggling act is about to get even messier. The reality of it hit her hard:“I can’t do it all myself anymore.”That’s the moment when being a Housewife stops being glossy dinner party content and starts feeling like survival mode.
Here’s where it gets interesting, though. When Ben Higgins, 37, asked whether she regretted jumping into the franchise—essentially asking if this gig might overshadow her iconic Bachelor run—Iaconetti pushed back.“I will never be known more as a Housewife than a member of Bachelor Nation,”she said. And she’s probably right. But what she acknowledged is something real: she’s a different person now. Back on The Bachelor, her drama orbited romance. These days, friend conflicts don’t trigger her the same way. She’s emotionally matured, but she’s also stretched impossibly thin between motherhood and reality TV obligations.
Iaconetti’s journey itself is the stuff reality TV loves. She met Haibon, 37, during Bachelor in Paradise season 2—he wasn’t interested initially. She pursued him again in season 3. Still no. Then he watched her move on with Kevin Wendt in 2017, and suddenly he realized what he was missing. By May 2018, they were official. He proposed during a Bachelor in Paradise visit, and they married in 2019 in Rhode Island. Now here she is, mother of two boys, navigating a different kind of spotlight.
It’s telling that Iaconetti recently shared her own vulnerability about motherhood on Instagram, opening up about gender disappointment and finding unexpected joy in parenting sons.“One of the many wonderful things about having a little boy is that I just had my face held by his little hands and was told many times how beautiful I am,”she wrote. That’s the real story underneath the Housewives drama—a woman learning to be present for her kids while a camera crew films her biggest arguments.
The question isn’t whether she’ll regret The Real Housewives of Rhode Island. It’s whether the franchise will let her be the mother she wants to be.
About the Author
Ava Hart
Ava Hart is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
