Former “Bachelorette” Charity Lawson Admits She 'Didn't Envision Myself Even Being Engaged' Before the Show

Lawson is set to tie the knot with Dotun Olubeko sometime in 2025

Former Bachelorette Charity Lawson is preparing for the continuation of her love story — one she now says she didn't anticipate to unfold.

The 28-year-old, who met her now-fiancé Dotun Olubeko on season 20 of the reality show, told the New York Times this week that her run of back-to-back stints on The Bachelor season 27, Dancing with the Stars, and then The Bachelorette was "a lot."

“I came into all of this quickly," she told the outlet in an interview published on Monday, April 8. "I didn’t envision myself even being engaged.”

Related: Former Bachelorette Charity Lawson Reveals She Recently Got Breast Implants: ‘Best Decision I Made’

Lawson, now engaged to Olubeko, spoke to the outlet while attending New York Bridal Fashion Week in search of the perfect gown in early April.

As she explained, she hopes to have her dress secured by July 2024, for a fall 2025 wedding in California. She and her soon-to-be spouse are also eyeing a later traditional Nigerian celebration in Lagos as a nod to his heritage.

"People want me to disclose our wedding day so bad — that is between me, my family and my fiancé," Lawson told the Times.

Lawson's season of The Bachelorette wrapped in August 2023, as Olubeko popped the question and described their love as "perfect."

"Love is just not enough of a word to describe how I feel about her," he said at the time.

With the engagement, the two also became the franchise’s first monoracial Black couple — something Lawson admitted she didn't think about until after they got engaged.

“Coming into this role as Bachelorette, you can't prepare for who you're going to meet because you clearly don't know. You also don't know what those connections are going to look like,” Lawson previously told PEOPLE. “Once me and Dotun really started to solidify our connection and it became firm that this man very much could be my husband, I recognized the importance, but it really didn't truly hit both of us until end of proposal."

“And it's a huge part to our love story,” the child and family therapist added. “I think that also just shows love is love, and we can't really put a label on that. It is important this type of love to be shown. Even when we see movies or we see TV shows, there is this narrative sometimes that with Black couples, that there's this ginormous struggle, or there's hurdles that you have to overcome in order to obtain one another or make this thing work, and that's the reality.”

Olubeko agreed, telling PEOPLE that “this love can't be put in a box.” He added, "We know nothing necessarily defines us, but we understand that's a huge part of our journey and we are extremely honored to have this position... We will continue to do our best to show what beautiful Black love can be like. And we hope that the franchise also continues down that path."

Since then, Lawson and Olubeko have been part of several sentimental photoshoots, and even appeared on television screens together again for The Bachelor finale last month and for an upcoming appearance on Celebrity Family Feud.

On Valentine's Day this year, Lawson celebrated her love with Olubeko, writing in a sweet Instagram post: "living out my answered prayer - happy valentine’s day to my earthside angel, being loved by you brings me all the feels. The greatest one is the feeling of being free. my safe space, my home, my heart. I love you ❤️"

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Besides sharing her love with the world, Lawson has been open with fans about other aspects of her life — most recently revealing on TikTok on April 5 that she underwent breast augmentation surgery, which she described as the "best decision."

As she shared at the time, which marked "one week post-op," she wanted to be “transparent in the conversation and normalizing these experiences that so many of us go through.”

“I was in recovery because I got my girlies done,” Lawson shared, before turning to the side to show off her results. "I wanted it to be very natural, I wanted it to just be really for me, ultimately that's why I'm getting this done, is for myself.”

Lawson added that it was "something I kind of sat on for a long time,” and made her "really proud, I’m really happy.”

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