5 Biggest “Bachelor” Bombshells from Producer Julie LaPlaca’s Book: Secret Peter Weber Romance, Hannah Brown Tension and More
5 Biggest “Bachelor” Bombshells from Producer Julie LaPlaca’s Book: Secret Peter Weber Romance, Hannah Brown Tension and More
Deirdre DurkanTue, July 7, 2026 at 4:23 PM UTC
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Peter Weber with Julie LaPlacaCredit: Julie LaPlaca/instagram, courtesy amazon -
In her new book, former Bachelor producer Julie LaPlaca confirms her long-rumored romance with Peter Weber, revealing secret hookups and deep unresolved feelings
LaPlaca reveals she nearly became the Bachelorette before producers shut down the idea
In her book, LaPlaca also opens up about her difficult working relationship with Hannah Brown
Former Bachelor producer Julie LaPlaca pulls back the curtain on some of Bachelor Nation’s longest-running rumors in her new memoir, The Love Producer: My Unscripted Journey from a Reality TV Career to My Own Happily Ever After.
LaPlaca, 41, details her years working behind the scenes on The Bachelor franchise, including her complicated relationships with Peter Weber and Hannah Brown.
LaPlaca also reveals she was seriously considered to become the Bachelorette herself — a twist that nearly turned the longtime producer into the franchise’s leading lady.
Weber has spoken out against the book, making it clear he did not want their relationship discussed publicly.
“I asked Julie on multiple occasions to please keep private, intimate details, private,” the pilot, now 34, recently wrote on Instagram in a comment section. “I find it wrong to mess with a person’s headspace like that and then go on to write a book about them.”
From secret hookups and unresolved feelings with Weber to tense moments with Brown and the burnout that nearly broke her, read on for some of the biggest bombshells from LaPlaca’s book, out now, wherever books are sold.
Julie confirms secret romance with Peter Weber
Julie LaPlaca and Peter WeberCredit: Julie LaPlaca/Instagram
After years of rumors, LaPlaca confirms the speculation surrounding her and Weber was not entirely unfounded.
She reveals the two developed an emotional connection while filming his season of The Bachelor, spending hours talking about deeply personal topics including marriage, family and what they wanted from life.
She writes that he encouraged her to believe she deserved a relationship where she could fully shine, and she admits she developed real feelings for him early on. The emotional connection eventually turned physical, with LaPlaca writing that the pair allegedly had multiple secret hookups after his season wrapped.
Weber has publicly pushed back on LaPlaca’s decision to share details of their relationship. In the comments of The Viall Files’ Instagram post about the memoir, he said he asked LaPlaca “on multiple occasions” to keep “private, intimate details” out of the book.
“I’ve moved on from this period of my life and I’m ultimately responsible for my choices,” Weber wrote. “This wasn’t about a TV show anymore.”
He also alleged that during filming, LaPlaca urged him not to give Hannah Ann Sluss a rose during one of their final one-on-one dates, recalling that she warned he would “look like the biggest idiot in the world to America” if he did. “I find it wrong to mess with a person’s headspace like that and then go on to write a book about them,” Weber added, before criticizing former Bachelor host Chris Harrison for writing the memoir’s foreword.
PEOPLE reached out to a rep for Weber for comment.
Julie nearly became the Bachelorette
Julie LaPlacaCredit: Julie LaPlaca/Instagram
One of the memoir’s most surprising reveals is that LaPlaca nearly became the franchise’s next Bachelorette.
While on a family vacation in Florida, LaPlaca writes that she received an unexpected phone call from franchise creator Mike Fleiss. At the time, rumors about her relationship with Weber were exploding publicly, and she feared she might be in trouble.
Instead, Fleiss shocked her with a question: Would she ever consider becoming the Bachelorette? LaPlaca says she immediately said yes.
Fleiss reportedly pitched the idea as a “modern-day Cinderella story,” telling her he loved the concept even though some executives were skeptical. Her family was ecstatic. So was Weber, she writes.
After calling him with the news, LaPlaca says Weber told her, “We totally manifested this” and assured her, “You have this in the bag.”
Ultimately, executives decided against casting her, believing audiences wouldn’t fully buy into a producer-led love story and that her behind-the-scenes knowledge could hurt the show’s authenticity.
LaPlaca was devastated. She cried after the meeting and felt crushed by the rejection, later writing that the decision deepened her unhappiness with the franchise and forced her to reevaluate what she wanted from her life.
Peter says producers ‘messed up’ by passing on Julie
Julie LaPlaca with Bill Dixon, Hannah Brown and Samantha TaylorCredit: Julie LaPlaca/Instagram
LaPlaca says her feelings for Weber never fully disappeared. Years later, seeing him again at Stagecoach reopened old wounds and forced her to confront how much unresolved emotion still remained.
Over dinner, Weber delivered one of the memoir’s biggest emotional bombshells.
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“Honestly, Jules, when I think back and reflect on the whole experience … the best part of it all … was you,” he allegedly told her. “They really messed up not making you the Bachelorette. I would’ve totally come back for the season.”
Her working relationship with Hannah Brown was deeply complicated
Hannah Brown (left) and Julie LaPlacaCredit: Julie LaPlaca/Instagram
LaPlaca also gets candid about her difficult experience producing Brown’s season of The Bachelorette.
After Colton Underwood’s season, LaPlaca was offered a major promotion that moved her from date planning into a much more hands-on producer role working directly with Brown.
She initially saw the opportunity as a major career leap and felt excited to help guide Brown through the process. But the relationship quickly became emotionally draining.
LaPlaca describes their dynamic as complicated, writing that she desperately wanted Brown to like her but often felt dismissed and unappreciated. The pressure became overwhelming.
She says she averaged about four hours of sleep a night during filming and reached a breaking point during episode 4 in Rhode Island, where she broke down crying to her parents over dinner.
LaPlaca told them she felt miserable, exhausted and emotionally depleted. Though she considered quitting, LaPlaca said their relationship improved later in the season.
Brown has also previously acknowledged that she and LaPlaca had a complicated working relationship during her time on the franchise.
Speaking on the June 16 episode of the She’s All Bach podcast, Brown said there were moments when she clashed with LaPlaca because she wasn’t emotionally prepared to film after difficult experiences on the show.
“Her job is to produce, and there were a lot of moments where I needed to be on for camera, and I was not ready,” Brown said. “It was a crazy time of my life, and she definitely got the brunt of having to be the person that was telling me what I needed to do at certain times when I was not ready to do that.”
Brown said their dynamic was “love-hate” at times, recalling, “There would be moments where I was like, ‘Julie, I cannot do this interview right now and I don’t want to talk to you.’”
Explaining that she was often “emotionally” unprepared to film, Brown said she sometimes had to go from “breaking up with someone the night before” to “talking about how excited you are to go on this next date.”
“Sometimes, emotionally, I was not ready for that, but that’s what the show needed,” Brown continued. “It was up to Julie to help get me there.”
PEOPLE reached out to a rep for Brown for additional comment.
She reveals the brutal reality of producing ‘The Bachelor’
Julie LaPlaca and Colton UnderwoodCredit: Julie LaPlaca/Instagram
Behind the glamorous dates and fantasy suites, she describes nonstop travel, seven-day workweeks and virtually no time off. The schedule eventually led to severe burnout.
Even with perks like business-class travel, private SUVs, room service and occasional spa treatments, LaPlaca says the physical and emotional cost was enormous.
Coworkers told her she looked like she had aged a decade. She stopped working out, gained weight from stress-eating and felt increasingly disconnected from herself.
After returning home from Brown’s season, LaPlaca wrote that she forced her to confront just how much of herself she had lost.
As Harrison, the former franchise host, writes in the book’s foreword, reality TV can be a “kill or be killed” environment that devours people. Despite it all, LaPlaca, Harrison said, managed to leave with her “sanity still intact.”
PEOPLE reached out to reps for ABC and the Bachelor franchise for comment.
The Love Producer is available now, wherever books are sold.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
