The Bachelor alum Melissa Rycroft is shedding new light on when she fell ill during a harrowing trip to the Dominican Republic — including why her parents thought she had died at one point.
“There was one report that was out that I was dead,” she told ET’s Keltie Knight during an interview to promote her judging role on the latest season of CMT’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. “My parents were frantically calling me that morning going, ‘We are getting people calling with their condolences.’ Like, ‘Mom I’m on the phone with you. I’m in my bed.”
“I was never under the care of a nurse. I was never dying, I don’t think. I felt like it a few times but I was never dying,” she added.
Last week, ET learned that the 36-year-old had mysteriously gotten sick while on vacation on the Caribbean island. According to CBS News, at least eight Americans have died while vacationing there since the beginning of the year.
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“I love to come back and be that positive influence for the girls. You never know what’s going to happen,” she shared. “If I could be that little bit of inspiration, these girls are 18, 19-years-old, I think that’s great.”
She went on to say that crushing dreams is one of the most difficult parts of her job as a judge.
“That’s the hardest part of the job because it’s emotional,” she told ET. “They’re real people with families behind them and their support systems behind them. Many of them give us everything they’ve got. Even that sometimes isn’t enough in a field this competitive.”
The new season of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team airs in August on CMT. Be sure to tune in for more of ET’s exclusive interview with Melissa Rycroft on Wednesday’s show.
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