Finding love with Gabby Windey has “basically” been akin to the romantic story in Notting Hill for comedian Robby Hoffman.
“I fell deeply in love [and] I knew 13 days in,” Hoffman, 33, said during a recent episode of her “Too Far” podcast, likening their romance to the Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant film. “I met her because I went out with a friend and no one was really there, and then this dyke like me started to look at me, and I thought [she would] maybe hit on me, like another butch-y type [person]. I’m not gay like that, but she was there with Gabby.”
Hoffman continued: “So, I go, ‘Never mind you. Who’s this?’ And she said it’s The Bachelor something and I go, ‘The Bachelor’s gay?’”
Hoffman, who admittedly watched the last four episodes of Windey’s season of The Bachelorette, quickly started “rapid-fire” asking questions to the 32-year-old. After finding out Windey’s age, her interest in “exploring” her sexuality and finding out they were compatible in terms of their relationships with money, Hoffman was ready to ask her out on a date.
“I’m rapid-fire, I only have a few minutes to lock this in, everyone’s leaving [the bar],” she recalled of their first encounter. “I knew right away [that] this was really looking good. I said, ‘I don’t want to lie to you, I’m gonna get your number [and] take you out when I’m back from Portland next week.’”
Gabby Windey and Robby Hoffman. Courtesy of Gabby Windey/Instagram
Hoffman turned to Windey’s friend and insisted that she wouldn’t be the one to pass along the former Bachelorette’s digits. “‘I’m getting it from the source and I’m testing the number right now,’” she remembered during the Tuesday, September 5, podcast episode. “I felt so connected [and it] was back and forth, we were laughing [and] immediately natural, I had no nerves. It was kinda like when you step onto stage and the lights hit you and then you’re home. … That’s the way I felt, everything was, like, perfect and she got out her phone.”
After getting Windey’s number, Hoffman texted her back before she explained that she needed to “go home and check my book” to figure out a date.
Gabby Windey, Colton Underwood and more Bachelor Nation alums are living their best lives under the rainbow after appearing on the franchise. Windey, for her part, revealed in August 2023 that she is dating a woman for the first time. The season 19 Bachelorette, who split from ex-fiancé Erich Schwer in 2022 after a televised […]
“I went home, I checked my book [and] I texted her that night. I said, ‘A week from Monday, I’ll take you out [to dinner]. 7 p.m., I’ll pick you up.’ And she wrote, ‘Can’t wait,’” Hoffman recalled. “And the weekend before, I confirmed [and] said, ‘By the way, remember no fun this weekend. The real fun starts Monday!’”
Windey replied: “[I] wouldn’t dream of having fun before Monday.”
Windey first appeared on Clayton Echard’s season 26 of The Bachelor before being offered the co-lead of the next season of The Bachelorette alongside Rachel Recchia. While the ICU nurse accepted a proposal from Erich Schwer during the season 19 finale, they split several months later in November 2022.
Windey confirmed in August that she was dating Hoffman. “She is so special. She makes me feel so safe, so loved,” Windey gushed during an episode of The View last month. “Like a love that I always wanted going on these dating shows, so now it’s like, ‘Yeah, exactly.’”
