Our favorite local ‘Bachelor’ celeb finds love in Raleigh — and will soon become a mom
In early 2018, Raleigh’s Jenna Cooper traveled the globe on the hit TV show “The Bachelor,” and later that year survived the perils of “Bachelor in Paradise” — all in the name of her search for love.
And that whole time, love was apparently waiting for her right here in her backyard.
Cooper revealed in a long Instagram post in January that she has found her guy, and he’s a Raleigh native.
The post included a photo of Cooper with Karl Hudson IV, a Raleigh commercial real estate broker and the great grandson of the co-founder of the Hudson Belk company. Hudson is wearing sunglasses in the photo and holding Cooper’s pet pig, Pearl. (Princess Pearl Pig, a celebrity in her own right, has almost 22,000 followers on Instagram).
In the post, Cooper described Hudson as the man “inspiring all my big smiles and dreams,” the man “with an adorable Southern charm,” the man she “can’t imagine life without.”
One week later, Cooper broke more news on Instagram: She and Hudson are expecting a baby.
That post showed Cooper quite pregnant, addressing her unborn baby: “I hope you get my spirit and sense of humor, and never stop laughing. I hope you get your daddy’s thoughtfulness and work ethic, and never stop being curious.”
Cooper is currently at 27 weeks — almost seven months (the baby is due in May) — and the Instagram updates keep coming.
Yes, Pearl the pig seems to be sensing the baby. No, Cooper is not picking the pig up. Yes, she seems to be spending a lot of time on the beach. No, she’s not getting too much sun.
And then a little over a week ago, the gender reveal from a Valentine’s weekend excursion to Turks and Caicos: It’s a girl.
Cooper’s Raleigh love story
Cooper told The News & Observer this week that she and Hudson met at a Cameron Village coffee shop on a date set up by a mutual friend.
“I thought he was so sweet and charming, and the feelings were pretty instant for me,” Cooper said. “Of course, I didn’t tell him that right away.”
Cooper said she was nervous about what Hudson might think of the fact that she had been on TV reality shows, but he was OK with it.
“He seemed to accept everything about me,” she said. “We met for dinners downtown, I beat him at every arcade game, we adopted a pig, and just became inseparable.”
Their favorite date night in Raleigh? Cooper says it’s dinner at Oak Steakhouse in Raleigh’s warehouse district and then live jazz and drinks (for those able to drink, she adds) at C. Grace on Glenwood South.
Now, Cooper says the two are focusing on their future, with the support of friends and family.
“I plan to spend the rest of my life with Karl, and I’m so excited about the future with our new baby girl coming at the end of May!” Cooper said. “Our friends and family are so amazing and supportive, and we couldn’t be happier.”
Cooper’s time in the ‘Bachelor’ universe
Cooper was a fan favorite on Season 22 (The Arie Season) of “The Bachelor,” always laughing and having fun and never getting involved in the house drama. She was the funny one, and seemed to have a blast interacting with fans on Twitter, usually with self-deprecating humor about her on-air antics.
She didn’t fall for Arie, and was eliminated during the season’s sixth episode, which took place in Paris. (The following season of “The Bachelor” also featured a Raleigh woman and the former Miss North Carolina USA, Caelynn Miller-Keyes.)
That summer, Cooper appeared in the “Bachelor” spinoff show, “Bachelor in Paradise,” which places former “Bachelor” cast members at a beach resort for another chance to find love.
Cooper thought she had found just that with Jordan Kimball, and even got engaged in the season finale of the show. But it all fell apart when a “Bachelor” blogger claimed to have evidence (from a source he would never name) that Cooper had cheated on Kimball. Cooper denied the allegations, and even had her phone examined by experts who said the text messages that alleged took place between Cooper and an unidentified man did not come from her phone.
It seems, according to Instagram posts, that it was a few months after the phone forensics were revealed that Cooper met Hudson.
Cooper is originally from Indiana and moved to the Triangle in 2016, first living with her brother and his family in Durham before settling in Raleigh.
Cooper told The News & Observer in a February 2018 interview that she is happy she made Raleigh her new home.
“I just love it and I want to stay,” Cooper said. “Raleigh’s my place now.”
