The Bachelorette: Why Riley Christian Lied About His Real Name
JoJo Fletcher and Tayshia Adams administered lie detector tests to some of the contestants during a group date on The Bachelorette. Guest host JoJo initially asked innocuous questions to ease the guys' comfort and to establish a baseline for the juicier questions. When she asked Riley Christian if "Riley" is his name, it turned out that he was not telling the truth. That seemed like a pretty straight forward question, but things are not always as they seem. Sure, that was not the exact truth, but sometimes the complications from real life cannot be simplified enough to answer a "yes" or "no" question during a polygraph test.
At the group date after party, Riley broke down in tears before he even had a chance to talk to Tayshia one-on-one. Clearly, the date took an emotional toll on him. During a confessional interview, he revealed, "My family situation is difficult and it's something that I don't really share with anybody, but if she's gonna meet my family, if there's any possibility of that, I have to be able to share this type of stuff."
When he finally met up with Tayshia, he admitted, "I know I said I was nervous about you meeting my family, but that's just because things are so rocky." Then he revealed that he was "Dwayne Henderson Jr," named after his father. However, that is not the truth today, which explains why a seemingly "easy" question was actually very difficult for Riley to answer. As it turns out, he has a complicated backstory.
Riley Christian legally changed his name
While Riley Christian was growing up, his father was his "best friend." However, he told Tayshia Adams, "It was great. It really was, but I got older. We had a falling out and I figured things out." Riley said, "With my mother, he took some things from her that didn't belong to him. He got sole custody of me and my brother and that was it." Riley shared, "My mother, she deserved so much. We missed so much time."
"We went quite a while without really having a relationship and I resented her for a lot of things based on what he was saying to me, but I got to a point where I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror," Riley divulged. "It was so awful," he recalled. "I decided I could be a better man, I could be a more honorable man, if I worked harder. But, the only way to do that was to start over, to start from scratch. So, I did." He legally changed his name, which he did with his mother by his side in the courtroom.
Despite those difficulties, Riley said, "I love my father. I truly do." He confessed, "I think about him every single day, but he's not here." He revealed, "All I want is a loving family and I think I'm on my way to finding it." He may find that with Tayshia, but even if he does not, Riley deserves that loving family regardless.