Former Bachelor lead Chris Soules opened up while on the Almost Famous podcast with two former Bachelor Nation stars about how “depressed and scared” he felt after the fatal car crash he caused in 2017, and about how he’s now focussing on being a better person.
Soules was the lead of the 19th season of ABC’s popular reality show back in 2015 after appearing on Andi Dorfman’s season of The Bachelorette. Fans of his season will remember he chose fertility nurse Whitney Bischoff (though the relationship didn’t last), but also that his season was considered to be relatively uneventful and that everyone moved on from him. In April 2017, however, Soules was involved in a car accident in his home state of Iowa, which left one man - a 66-year-old army veteran - dead. The now-38-year-old was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury, and, two and a half years after the accident, he’s ready to talk more about how it’s affected him.
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While appearing on an in-depth episode of the Almost Famous podcast hosted by The Bachelor’s Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti (via People), the Arlington farmer said that he felt there was “nothing left to live for” after the accident. Soules says he was “severely depressed and scared” after the accident happened, and that he “didn’t want to get out of bed [because] there was no hope left in life for me.” Chris continued that “the worst things you could possibly think, I’ve thought” and that there were “moments I didn’t think it was worth waking up” but now he’s taking it “one day at a time,” with a lot of help from his “super supportive” family and friends. He acknowledges that this was “a tragedy that two families were caught up in” and he says that “both families are having an opportunity to heal as much as humanly possible from something that you really can’t 100 percent heal from.”
While some who were following the case felt that Soules got off relatively easy with his sentencing, the accident has had a lasting impression on him and he says it’s “something I’ll never forget.” Soules told the Bachelor Nation podcast hosts that “life is about, not the tragedies that you’ve been through, it’s about what you do afterwards and how you can move forward.” and that all you can do is “pray, work hard and focus on being a better person,” which is what he’s been doing for the past two years. While he’s focussed on moving forward, the 38-year-old reiterates that the accident is something that he’ll “think about forever” and that he “can’t say enough how much I would take that evening back.”
When news of Chris Soules’ arrest broke back in April 2015, it was a shocking story for fans of The Bachelor franchise, and many fans followed the story closely to find out what the result of Soules’ sentencing would be. Now that the dust has settled, the case has been settled, and the Iowa-native has been sentenced, it’s evident that Chris is regretful of what happened and is doing his best to heal, which will be a slow process for all involved. An event like this will stay with someone forever, and it’s clear that Chris will not forget the accident, or his victim Kenny Mosher, but he’s making the best of the situation he’s been dealt and becoming the best version of himself.
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Source: People
