Caelynn Miller-Keyes facts for kids

Caelynn Marie Bell (born Miller-Keyes on June 15, 1995) is an American television personality, model, and beauty pageant winner. She became well-known in the United States after she was a contestant on season 23 of the TV show The Bachelor.

While on The Bachelor, Miller-Keyes was praised for bravely sharing a difficult personal story from her time in college. Many news outlets, like Forbes and Vogue, wrote about her story and her courage.

Early Life and School

Miller-Keyes was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She was raised by her mother, Jai-leah Miller, and her stepfather, John Kamenicky. Her mother and grandmother are Native American and are members of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Her grandmother on her father's side was the first woman to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in Los Angeles.

As a child, she was diagnosed with encephalitis, a serious illness. Doctors thought she might not be able to walk again, but she made a full recovery. Miller-Keyes went to Stafford Senior High School and later studied broadcast journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University. Before her pageant career took off, she moved to Asheville, North Carolina, and worked as a social media consultant.

Career

Beauty Pageants

Miller-Keyes started competing in pageants when she was 16. She won Miss Virginia Teen USA 2013 on her first try. She then represented Virginia in the Miss Teen USA 2013 pageant but did not place.

Later, after moving to North Carolina, she competed in and won the Miss North Carolina USA 2018 pageant. This gave her the chance to compete in the Miss USA 2018 competition in Shreveport, Louisiana. At Miss USA, she used her platform to speak about the importance of personal safety. She did very well in the competition and finished as the first runner-up. The winner was Sarah Rose Summers from Nebraska.

Reality Television

In 2018, Miller-Keyes was chosen to be on season 23 of The Bachelor, which starred former football player Colton Underwood. Another contestant on the show was Hannah Brown, who had been her roommate at the Miss USA pageant.

During one episode, Miller-Keyes shared a story about a difficult experience she had in college. She explained how it made it hard for her to trust people for a while. Many people praised her for being open and honest. She finished in fourth place on the show.

In August 2019, she joined the cast of Bachelor in Paradise. She left the show with her boyfriend, Dean Unglert, in an episode that aired on September 9, 2019.

Personal Life

As Miss North Carolina USA, Miller-Keyes chose to support a cause that was very important to her. She became an advocate for personal safety awareness. She shared her own story to help others and bring attention to the issue.

Miller-Keyes began dating Dean Unglert after they met on Bachelor in Paradise. In 2021, they bought a house together in Summerlin, Nevada. They got engaged in October 2022 and were married on September 23, 2023, in Meredith, Colorado. After getting married, they both changed their last name to Bell to honor his late mother.

Filmography