Brad Womack, 53, is a two-time lead on ABC’s The Bachelor (Seasons 11 and 15, 2007 and 2011, respectively). He grew up in Atlanta, GA, and later Livingston, TX, is an identical twin, worked the oil fields following high school, and eventually got into the bar business in Austin — before stumbling into the lead role of one of the most-watched franchises on television after a chance conversation. Five days later, he was in a room with the president of ABC.
But this episode isn’t about The Bachelor. It’s about what it does to a person’s interior to become a national projection screen — to have millions of people think they know who you are. It’s about being a twin, and how identity works under pressure.
Being the Bachelor is one of the most psychologically singular experiences a person can have. There is essentially no comparable template for it. You are simultaneously a private person, a romantic protagonist, and a public figure, all at once, for an audience of tens of millions. Most people never have to reckon with the gap between who they are and who the world has decided they are. Brad had to do it twice. That gap, and what it does to a person’s sense of self, is what I wanted to explore.
I’m also a fraternal twin, from Tipton, IA — a town of about 3,000 people. Brad grew up in Livingston, TX, population around 6,500. There’s something specific about coming from a place that small that I don’t think you fully understand unless you’ve lived it, and the same goes for being a twin. That shared context made for an unusually honest conversation.
The “Double Take” in the title refers to the dualities at play. Brad as The Bachelor twice; two twins talking to each other; two people from small towns; Brad as others defined him versus Brad defining himself; Brad under the national microscope versus Brad in retrospect.
