Gia’s mother is also featured in very emotional special

Jan 6, 2014 12:44 GMT  ·  By

Gia Allemand, a fan favorite on the 14th season of The Bachelor, took her own life in August 2013 after struggling with depression. On the special ahead of the premiere of the new season, a very touching tribute to the late model and reality star was included.

This season, fans of the longstanding reality show will see Juan Pablo try to find love with one of the chosen bachelorettes. However, before getting to properly introduce the ladies to the viewers at home, producers wanted them to recall how amazing Gia was, the Daily Mail reports.

Embedded below is just a short preview for the new season, for those of you who haven’t caught the premiere yet. EW has an extended video that hints this season will double the drama and the scandal, including footage of one of the bachelorettes crying on the bathroom floor and yelling she wants to see Juan Pablo dead.

She probably doesn’t mean it, as it’s a known fact that producers tend to urge contestants on these shows to create drama even when there’s none to be had otherwise.

All (manufactured or not) drama aside, the special ahead of the premiere included a very touching moment: the Gia tribute, which included footage of Gia herself speaking of how she’d like to be remembered and of her mother.

“I just hope people remember my kind heart. I have a kind heart for people. That’s what I hope people remember me for,” Gia said, adding, “I want two kids and I want to adopt a baby girl from China.”

She will never get to do that, and her mother is using her on-screen time to ring the alarm on the importance of asking for help when in a situation like the one she found herself in.

“Gia took her own life and it is heart wrenching and I wouldn’t want to see any other parent go through this. There is plenty of help for everyone,” she said.

“I just miss her. Gia was always full of such life and she’d walk into a room and you’d feel her presence. She’d light up that room like sunshine,” her mother said, barely able to fight back tears.

Judging from reactions online, the Gia Allemand tribute was the highlight of the season premiere: a thoughtful and beautiful thing to do on part of the producers.