'Bachelor' Alum Clare Crawley Opens Up About Health Scare

Clare Crawley is known for her time in the “Bachelor” franchise.

She first appeared on the 18th season of “The Bachelor” and became the leader of the 16th season of “The Bachelorette.” She also appeared in seasons 1 and 2 of “Bachelor in Paradise” and “Bachelor Winter Games.”

After her time with the franchise, Crawley went through a health scare, which led her to have her breast implants removed. The surgery occurred almost two years ago, but she is now opening up about that scary moment, going on to say the whole thing was "exhausting".

The 41-year-old sat down with ABC News' Zohreen Shah, where she admitted she is both happier and healthier without her breast impants.

"It was absolutely exhausting," Crawley told the news anchor in regard to her health scare. The former "Bachelorette" lead admitted to took years before finding a diagnosis, which "took its toll on my life, on my relationships, on my family, on my social life."

"My body was just working overtime and I thought, this is not how it's supposed to be," she continued before adding, "For somebody who puts as much effort as I do into taking care of my health, this is not how it should look and not how I should feel at this age."

She underwent her breast augmentation surgery after appearing on "The Bachelor" franchise.

The former "Bachelor" alum admitted that being in the public eye led to her having an "insecurity" about her body, specifically her breast size.

"I originally did not have a breast augmentation when I was first on television, on 'The Bachelor,' and I was surrounded by beautiful women," Crawley told ABC. "Having small breasts at the time, for me, made me feel I guess not as feminine, and it created this big insecurity in me."

Although Crawley liked having the implants initially, thing quickly changes as she admits she soon felt uncomfortable.

"I loved it initially but it affected me in the reverse almost where I started wearing sports bras all the time," she said. "I started covering up more because they felt not my body, obviously they were not, but it felt just huge."

The 41-year-old then began developing rashes all over her body. She went to several different doctors multiple times per month to try and get a diagnosis, which continued for eight years, with more health issues popping up.

"I was diagnosed with everything probably except breast implant illness because that wasn't a thing then," she said. "And I actually asked my doctors pretty far into it, 'Could [my implants] be causing this? This is the only thing that is the constant in my body.'"

After doing her own research, and coming to the conclusion that she had "breast implant illness", she found a doctor who specialized in breast explant surgeries. After seeing the specialist she realized that she is not the only one to have health scares due to the breast implants.

"I thought you take them out because you just don't like them anymore," Crawley said. "Or you take them out because you're switching them out for a different pair."

In July 2021, Crawley underwent breast explant surgery and immediately felt better, both physically and mentally. "I could take the deepest, freshest breath ever," she said. "It was not only physically good, I felt amazing ... I felt like my body was just like, 'Ah, thank you.'"