Elly Miles reveals her stint on The Bachelorette brought on a mental health battle: ‘It instantly would just hit me’

Former Bachelorette star Elly Miles has revealed she struggled with crippling anxiety in the aftermath of her time on the show.

The 26-year-old spoke candidly about her battle with mental health, saying she was able to overcome her struggles through exercise.

“I would wake up everyday and just feel like there was a hand around my throat,” she said in a recent sit-down interview with model Tegan Martin.

“I’ve never had issues with anxiety in the past before, so to have such an intense physical symptom of anxiety was just really scary to me and really overwhelming.

Elly said once she noticed “something was off” she realised she needed to do something about it, and claimed working out worked wonders for her mental health.

“Being able to do that was the only thing at that point in time that would help me out I guess,” she said.

The former Bachelorette, who appeared alongside her sister Becky on last year’s season, said that while battling anxiety was a tough experience, part of her is “definitely glad to have been through it”.

“Knowing that I can come out the other end of something so sh—ty gives me faith in knowing that I will be able to overcome any future struggles that come my way,” she said.

“I hope that by me opening up about my experience, it can reassure or give some comfort to anyone else out there that might be going through a similar thing right now.”

Earlier this year, Elly opened up to WHO about the effects the show and sudden fame had on her, after first appearing on Matt Agnew’s season in 2019.

“When The Bachelorette was airing, I was so stressed because what was actually happening, currently, in my life was on TV,” she said.

But the registered nurse maintained that she didn’t regret her time as the Bachelorette.

“I’ve learned so much about myself. When you’ve gone through a tough or stressful time, it helps you grow and I’m proud of how Becky and I conducted ourselves,” she said.

“We went on the show with the purest of intentions and that was to find love, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

Elly walked away from the show with Frazer Neate, but the pair split up just a month after the show’s finale aired.

“I think we just grew apart after the show. It was really really hard having the distance and the secrecy and I guess everything that comes along with having a new relationship in the media,” she said in December last year.

Meanwhile Elly’s older sister and co-Bachelorette Becky split from her final choice, Pete Mann, while the show was still airing.