While she’s been handing out red roses in her quest to find love over the past few weeks, last night The Bachelorette’s Angie Kent spoke about an important part of her life viewers may not have known about.
Appearing on The Project, the 29-year-old said she and former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones lived with her “best friend” Tom Hancock for three-and-a-half years. During that time as Tom’s housemate, Angie cared for her friend who has Down syndrome and diabetes.
“It was just this crazy dysfunctional family but it just worked,” said the reality star. “We’re just always laughing. We love to go out to dinner together and we get the giggles, lots of singing and lots of dancing usually.”
Angie said she had some responsibilities to help Tom with his daily routine, but she didn’t consider it a burden or hard “work”.
“I’m there to help him with his diabetes and getting him up in the morning, make sure he’s having a healthy routine,” she said. “It’s one of those things where it doesn’t feel like work because there’s so much love. You are like a family.”
When Tom turned 21, his mother Rachael Haggett decided to buy her son a home and offer rent-free accommodation to housemates in return for caring for Tom.
Rachael told The Project: “She’s not just the Bachelorette, she’s a very caring, responsible young woman. She’s very skilled at being a good support person and a good friend.”
Ahead of appearing on the current affairs show on Wednesday night, Angie shared a touching tribute to her friend on Instagram.
“This is one of my bestest friends Sir Thomas Hancock. I lived with Tom for 3.5 years and after that I became a qualified support worker last year when I no longer lived with him and @yvie_jones,” she wrote.
“Tonight Tommy, myself, one of his amazing house mates Scott and Toms queen of a mother Rachael will be chatting about Toms living situation on @theprojecttv to raise community awareness around the amazing work carers, support workers, friends, family and house mates do, and the diversity of these roles.”
Since Angie and Yvie moved out last year, Tom has been living with his new housemate Scott Thompson, who’s been friends with Tom for 25 years.