From final rose to mom of five, it’s clear family is a priority for Emily Maynard Johnson.
Bachelor Nation was introduced to the North Carolina native when she was a single mother to daughter Ricki. Maynard Johnson was engaged to Ricky Hendrick when he died in an airplane accident in October 2004 at 24 years old.
Viewers then watched Maynard Johnson – and her daughter — when she got engaged to Brad Womack on season 15 of The Bachelor.
“I wish that I would’ve kept [my time on The Bachelor and Bachelorette] totally separate [from Ricki],” she admitted in a 2017 podcast interview. “At the time, I thought, ‘This is it,’ and I never would’ve brought her into it had I not thought that. So I wish that I maybe would’ve taken a step back. Maybe sheltered her from that a little bit more.”
After her relationship with Womack was short-lived, Maynard Johnson was named the season 8 Bachelorette. She accepted a proposal from Jef Holm during the 2012 finale, but quickly “wondered [if] a relationship with Jef was going to work, how he would fit into Ricki’s life, if he was, in fact, ready to be a stepparent,” she recalled in her 2016 memoir.
The twosome split after less than one year together and Maynard Johnson married Tyler Johnson in 2014. The couple went on to welcome three sons in three years: Jennings Tyler in July 2015, Gibson Kyle in September 2016 and Gatlin Avery in November 2017.
“You could have 18 kids and it really doesn’t make that big of a difference,” she told People in 2017. “Your stroller gets bigger, but that’s it. I want to have maybe two more. Ricki is so much older, she’s just more of a help than anything else. So, we’ll see!”
She went on to give birth to daughter Magnolia Belle in October 2020.
“There is no other feeling like being a mom,” the former ABC star told The Huffington Post. “People tell you that you won’t know it until you experience it. They’re right. There is nothing like it.”
Maynard Johnson got emotional on Ricki’s 17th birthday in June 2022 as she reflected on becoming a mother.
“On this day, seventeen years ago, I feel like I was reborn in so many ways because you brought so much joy to my aching heart,” she wrote via Instagram. “And now, you continue to brighten every room you walk in and make people, whether you know them or don’t, feel like they’ve known you forever. Your humility, grace, grit, and of course beauty, know no bounds and I’m so proud of you! I love you, Ki!”
Scroll through to see the Johnson family’s photo album:
