Bachelorette Alum Ashley Hebert Defends Courtney Robertson

Bachelorette Alum Ashley Hebert Defends Courtney Robertson
Ashley Hebert understands how rough reality TV stardom can be.

The former Bachelorette, currently engaged to JP Rosenbaum, whose proposal she accepted during her season's finale, told Us Weekly Thursday she sympathizes with Courtney Robertson -- the Bachelor contestant viewers loved to hate.

Hebert, 27, opened up to Us during Svedka's Night of a Billion Reality Stars bash in L.A., where she said she's confident Robertson is a better person now having gone through the cutthroat Bachelor process.

"You learn about yourself, you learn about what's right, what's wrong," Hebert shared. "I think she probably came out of it a stronger woman."

Bachelor Ben Flajnik proposed to the Los Angeles-based Robertson, 28, during a romantic Swiss getaway in November. Once episodes from her season started airing, an embarrassed Robertson, who viciously mocked her fellow contestants throughout the show, did a 180, apologizing profusely to the women she had competed with for Flajnik's affections.

"I'm disappointed in myself and how I treated the women," Robertson told host Chris Harrison during the show's Women Tell All special. "Looking back, there's so many things I would have done differently."[usmagazine.com]

Ben Flajnik, Courtney Robertson Claim: "We Love Each Other Very Much"

Ben Flajnik, Courtney Robertson Claim: "We Love Each Other Very Much"
It was date night for Ben Flajnik and fiancee Courtney Robertson in Hollywood on Thursday at Svedka's Second Annual Night of a Billion Reality Stars bash.

With fellow (and former) reality stars like Jon Gosselin, Kyle Richards, Ali Fedotowsky, Teresa Giudice, Gretchen Rossi also in attendance, the winemaker, 29, and the model 28, were the obvious center of attention -- but the talked-about twosome told Us Weekly that they're settling into normal life.

"It's getting close," Flajnik said. "Now that the show's over and the star's fading . . . [it's] wonderful for us."

"We're getting there," Robertson told Us.

The couple are back in the States after a recent five-day vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. "Oh my goodness," Robertson said. "I'm still so relaxed. It was really great."

"I'm back to work, all stressed out," Flajnik chimed in.

And, though the couple have an army of skeptics, they told Us they've learned "lots" about each other since the end of the Bachelor's filming and its controversial aftermath in which Flajnik cheated with other women.

"The thing that people don't know is that when the show was airing we spent a lot of time together, and we were off almost every weekend," Flajnik explained. "We got to know each other really well."

"He's met some of my friends in San Francisco and I've been with his," Robertson said.

As for wedding plans? "No date set," Robertson admitted. "We're engaged, dating, taking it slow. We love each other very much. It took the pressure off. "

Mused Flajnik: "We kind of looked back at some of the other Bachelor relationships that didn't work out and the reason for that is you have so much pressure to move in together and set a date and all this kind of stuff . . . Let's figure out who we are together before we do any of that and take the pressure off."

If they do tie the knot, it would be in "Arizona or California somewhere," he said.[usmagazine]