Public sympathy plus her natural dancing ability have quickly turned Melissa Rycroft into an instant celebrity.  As mentioned previously, the former Bachelor contestant turned Dancing with the Stars participant, has reportedly been offered $500,000 to pose nude in Playboy.  But that’s not all.  As someone who is pulled from anonymity and catapulted immediately into the national media spotlight, Rycroft has become a favorite, not just by ordinary fans but other celebrities as well.

In the past several weeks, the Dancing with the Stars front-runner has been literally embraced by everyone from waitresses to American Idol’s Randy Jackson.

“He was like, ‘Heeeeeeey, how are you?’” Rycroft said in the latest issue of People, which hit newsstands on Friday.

Rycroft couldn’t believe Jackson even knew who she was but the American Idol judge pulled her into a big bear hug.

“Just three months ago I was on the other side,” Rycroft said of her instant popularity. “I am so not a celebrity.”

That’s all because of her controversial stint on The Bachelor, where she was selected and proposed to by Jason Mesnick before being dumped on national TV for runner-up Molly Malaney. And although everything worked to her advantage, Rycroft insists that fame was never part of her plan.  In fact, she thought she would be spending months healing her broken heart following her Bachelor stint.

“I go through stages,” Rycroft said of her grieving process. “I will shut down and lock myself in my room. And then I’ll get to the point where I can’t be by myself and I have to be around other people all the time. Otherwise I’ll drive myself nuts crying. I cry it out. Then one day I wake up and go, I’m okay.”

Fans can catch Melissa Rycroft, along with professional dance partner Tony Dovolani, on Dancing with the Stars, airing every Monday on ABC.



-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: People
(Image courtesy of People)