Charity Lawson Opens Up About Finding Love After a Relationship That ‘Limited’ Her Potential (Exclusive)

Charity Lawson is grateful to be onward and upward after ending a toxic relationship that limited her potential.

After Tuesday’s episode Dancing with the starsthe Bachelor star opened up exclusively to PEOPLE about leaving her relationship and starting a new chapter with her fiance Dotun Olubek.

“I didn’t, I think, imagine a future for myself, but I think my range was very limited,” she says of her relationship before she became the Bachelor. “I don’t think I really had a full picture of what I thought it could be possible for my life – which is sad to say – but it’s like when you’re not in a relationship that really makes you blossom or just the people around you in general, friends , whoever it is, it’s like you become almost like in this box.”

Charity Lawson and Dotun Olubeko visit the Empire State Building on September 6, 2023.

Eugene Gologursky/Getty

Bachelorette Charity Lawson says fiance Dotun Olubeko will be her ‘No. 1 fan on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

The reality star admits her life changed after getting engaged on the season finale of the ABC dating series, which aired in August, explaining: “And now that I’m where I am and I’ve been through so much in a short amount of time, a lot I am a better person. I’m more lively. I really feel like I’m exactly where I need to be.”

During Lawson’s pre-show package, she reflected on the decision to leave the relationship and begin her journey Bachelor and later became the leading lady Bachelor.

Before that, I left a really toxic relationship, she said. “There was a lot of disbelief and I was constantly overexerting myself to succeed… being in the trenches so lost and not knowing how to get out, I wasn’t very proud of who I was.”

Charity Lawson and Artem Chigvintsev in ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Disney/Christopher Willard

Charity Lawson Engaged in Season 20 of ‘The Bachelorette’: ‘A Man That I Can Love Forever’

“I needed to go through that unfortunately to become the version of who I am today,” she added, noting that she is “happily engaged” to Olubek. “Sometimes you have to go through the worst things in life to get to the best place, and this dance has to show that painful journey.”

She then performed the contemporary song “Lose You to Love Me” by Selena Gomez with partner Artem Chigvintseva. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba declared her dance the dance “everyone will remember this season.” She praised her for “bringing it on” and called it a “powerful performance”.

Charity Lawson and Dotun Olubeko relationship timeline

Derek Hough praised her for using a jungle gym prop in her routine and said she danced with “such strength and courage”, while Bruno Tonioli praised Lawson for “being herself and enjoying who you are” after the challenges she overcame .

Speaking to co-host Julianne Hough afterwards, Lawson broke down in tears as she revealed, “It took me a long time to get here… I just let it all out.” Her efforts were clear to the judges as her emotional dance ended up earning them their first 10 of the season from Inaba.

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Dancing with the stars airs Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET on ABC and Disney+.

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Source: HIS Education