Bachelor Star Danielle Maltby Is Working On A Memoir About The Death Of Her Fiancé

Like many former Bachelor stars, Danielle Maltby started a podcast after The Bachelor. Unlike many former Bachelor stars, it isn’t about the franchise. Instead, The WoMed pulls from Danielle's 12 years of experience as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to highlight what women are doing in the medical field.

In fact, the podcast has become such a big part of Danielle’s life that she left her job in the NICU in 2019 to focus more on it. "I was unhappy. Not with the patients. I was emotionally depleted,” she wrote on Instagram. “I just knew I was burning out and I needed to make a change … And I’m really happy I did. The podcast is incredible. I love talking to all these bold and powerful women in all medical fields and giving them a platform to be heard and uplifted."

Reflecting back on the decision, Danielle tells Bustle that she felt like she wasn't making the difference she wanted to after so long in the NICU, and the podcast gives her a way to empower women in her career field and educate her fan base.

Still, as much as she loves talking about medicine, she also missed practicing it. So, earlier this year, she started training in aesthetic nursing, which focuses on things like fillers, tattoo removal, laser skin treatments, and more.

On top of all that, Danielle is also working on a book. "I have a story to share and I really hope it brings some light to your darkness," she wrote on Instagram when she announced in December that she wanted to make writing more of a priority in 2020.

She tells Bustle that the book is a memoir "processing the death of my fiancé and navigating my world after that," which Danielle opened up a little bit about on one of her dates with Nick on The Bachelor. As she explained at the time, her fiancé died of an apparent drug overdose and she was the one to find him; until then, she had no idea that he had been struggling with drug use.

Danielle cautions that she doesn't want her memoir to be a self-help book ("I'm not qualified for that," she says), but that she wants her story to bring hope to other people who may be able to understand what she's gone through.

Something else many people will be able to understand is Danielle's current frustration with dating. "I am single at the moment and definitely looking for my guy," she says, adding that she's been getting a lot of DMs. But there are some simple criteria that any potential date needs to meet that — rather frustratingly — not everyone does. "Your first questions almost have to be A) do you believe COVID is real, B) are you wearing a mask and C) do you have empathy for others," Danielle says.

In other words, just your standard get-know-you questions in the hellscape that is 2020. At least it’s any easy way to rule people out!