Brooke Blurton has shared her desperation to fly home to Western Australia, before hitting back at fans who claimed she can “use her connections” to bypass mandatory hotel quarantine.
Taking to Instagram, the former Bachelorette shared a photo of the WA outback, writing: “I just want to go home.”
Brooke, whose sister tragically died in September, hasn’t been able to see her family from her hometown of Carnarvon in nearly six months due to WA’s strict border policy.
But the 27-year-old revealed she was flooded with DMs from followers who suggested she could pull strings to get into the state by applying for an exemption on compassionate grounds, using her WA residency or “through her connections”.
“Please refrain from your commentary,” Brooke hit back. “These [responses] are totally invalid to my situation. Yes I’m a WA resident. But I’m not coming back to WA for work/essential work, therefor I cannot really apply for an exemption.”
Brooke went on to say that she wouldn’t be able to apply for an exemption under compassionate grounds as she would still be required to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days.
“My sister passed in September, that wouldn’t be an accurate cause as time would be a consideration for [the government],” she said.
“As for ‘connections,’ I don’t have some magic strings to pull. Even if people did, I wouldn’t feel entitled to do that. Everyone is patiently waiting to get back home or return to WA.”
Brooke would technically be able to return to WA if she underwent mandatory two-week hotel quarantine, however after already having done it twice, the reality star said she “isn’t prepared” to go through the draining process again.
“It’s hard mentally, physically, emotionally and because I’m already in a vulnerable state of mind with what’s been going on,” she said, in an apparent reference to her recent breakup with Darvid Garayeli.
“I’m building myself up for [hotel quarantine]. If it comes to it, I will prep myself to do the quarantine but all I can say is it’s extremely isolating and can take a huge toll on your mental health if you don’t have good mental health in the first place.”
Brooke’s candor about her mental health battle comes a week after she shed light on the reasons behind her and Darvid’s shock split.
“It was my choice to end the relationship and I had been thinking about it for a bit towards the end. My reasons for that are completely valid to me.”
Brooke said there was an intense amount of pressure on their relationship, but admitted “we both lost ourselves along the way.”
“I have a lot of respect for Darvid and what he gave up for me to be IN the relationship. We had a very real love in a very unreal situation but we equally had ALOT of pressure on us too. Which I felt I carried everyday.
“At the start of the show, I was the best version of myself and when the show ended and my sister died. I became my worst and my saddest.”
Brooke insisted there was “no infidelity, no hate” behind their breakup, and said she and Darvid are “as amicable as you can be during a healing process.”
“I still love him dearly and have no regrets choosing him. I just wish the world was a little bit more gentle on us in the time we had,” she said.