‘Bachelor’ Alum Melissa Rycroft Says She’s Getting Professional Care After Second DWI Arrest

Melissa Rycroft says she spent a long time putting on a smile so that even her family would have little idea how much she was struggling. On Nov. 3, two days after her second arrest on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, the former Bachelor contestant said publicly what she had been reluctant to tell those closest to her. She was overwhelmed, she needed help, and she was getting professional care.

Rycroft, 43, opened her Instagram statement by acknowledging how the situation had affected her friends and family. She described feeling ashamed both of what had happened and of admitting how difficult things had become. "No excuses at all, but I'm finally admitting that I need help," she wrote.

The legal circumstances give those words particular weight. Southlake, Texas, police arrested Rycroft on Nov. 1 after a vehicle she allegedly drove struck a stopped ambulance the previous day and left the scene, according to People. Police said no one was injured. Rycroft faces a new DWI charge as well as charges related to driving with an invalid license and leaving the scene of a collision. She had already pleaded guilty in a separate DWI case stemming from a September 2025 arrest and received 20 months of probation.

In her statement, Rycroft said her family had stood by her and deserved her honesty. That admission gives some context to her description of putting on a smile. The people she says she wants to get well for were among those she had kept from seeing how overwhelmed she felt. She said she wanted to feel like herself again and asked the public to respect her family's privacy as they deal with the fallout alongside her.

"Please have some grace with me, if you have it in your heart," Rycroft wrote. Her appeal comes as she begins to speak openly about a struggle she says she kept private for some time. For her family, she has made a more specific commitment. She says she is getting professional care and is ready to be honest about how much help she needs.