After being announced as the Bachelorette New Zealand's second bachelorette last night, Lily McManus says she had to think long and hard about the decision, but always wanted it to be about empowering women and not a competition.
McManus sat down with TVNZ1's Breakfast's Matty McLean this morning alongside fellow bachelorette Lesina Nakhid-Shuster.
"I definitely took a long hard think about it. I really wanted it to be about women empowerment and about us lifting each other up and helping each other out. I never wanted it to be about competition between me and Lesina," she said.
"I got to meet Lesina and realised we were on the same page as women and we do believe that this show should be about lifting women up, and knowing that about her, it just made me all the more confident to want to do it with her and having someone to share it with was actually really fun."
McManus also said because of their life stages and interests they were looking for different things in a partner.
"I'm looking for a best friend," she said. "Just for me, because I'm not ready for kids or marriage, doesn't make my relationship any less valid. I think a woman can have any kind of relationship and it still be valid and it doesn't mean I don't want to find my person to one day have kids and marriage with."
Nakhid-Shuster said she had been feeding information about the guys to McManus before she entered the show.
Bluntly put, McManus said, "I knew who she liked and the guys she liked I didn't really like, to be completely honest."
"We really, really like different people," Nakhid-Shuster laughed.
Without giving away any spoilers on how their journey will end, both Bachelorettes did admit they were happy.
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