The Bachelor’s Bella Varelis reveals her heartbreak after being cheated on

She may be falling head over heels for Locky Gilbert on The Bachelor, but Bella Varelis hasn’t always been so open to finding love in real life.

The 25-year-old marketing professional told New Idea on Monday that she struggles to trust men after being cheated on in the past.

‘I had my heart broken pretty badly. Being cheated on and yo-yo’d has made it really hard for me to trust again,’ she said. 

‘I always manage to attract men who aren’t ready for relationships,’ she added.

However, Bella insisted she was ready to give love another go, and wasn’t going to let her past experiences get in the way of her relationship with Locky.

‘Even when the cameras were off, we would have to basically be pulled away from each other,’ she said of her on-screen romance with the Australian Survivor star.

This isn’t Bella’s first brush with The Bachelor franchise, as she previously dated Sam Johnston from Georgia Love’s season of The Bachelorette. 

The pair were romantically involved from late 2015 until the middle of 2016.

‘She was living with him for a couple of months before he went on The Bachelorette,’ a source told Daily Mail Australia in December 2016.

Sam later clarified: ‘Bella and I are very good mates still, but are certainly not sleeping together.’

Bella has also been linked to Dean Unglert, a contestant from the American Bachelorette franchise who also happens to be one of Locky’s friends. 

The Bachelor continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10