Thinking about the past. Tyler Cameron admitted he has “all these what-ifs” about almost getting engaged to Hannah Brown on The Bachelorette

“[It’s] definitely something I think about, and we’ve talked about [it] before,” the season 15 contestant, 27, told Us Weekly in an interview published on Thursday, August 20. “But, you can’t live in that world. What-ifs will kill you. You know? So, I try to stay away from that kind of thinking.”

Bachelorette Hannah Brown Laughs With Ex Tyler Cameron
ABC/Mark Bourdillon

That being said, Tyler thinks things may have worked out if he was the last man standing instead of Jed Wyatt during the finale. “She’s an incredible person. There’s no doubt that I think we would have been just fine, but we kind of went our [separate] ways and are different people than what we were then,” he continued. “So, I may seem a little different, a little more difficult.” The football player now feels “lucky to have her as a friend.”

Hannah, 25, and Tyler’s split aired on The Bachelorette in July 2019, and they took a little distance from each other. Her relationship with Jed, 26, fizzled out after a month when she found out he lied about the extent of his relationship with ex Haley Stevens. The reality babe then went on to compete (and win) Dancing With the Stars. Meanwhile, Tyler struck up a brief romance with model Gigi Hadid

However, the reality exes reconnected in March following the tragic death of his mom, Andrea, from a brain aneurysm. Hannah then quarantined at the Barkitecture star’s Florida home for nearly a month along with new Bachelor Matt James and a group of their friends. 

It’s clear they’ll always have each other’s backs. Tyler urged fans to “lift up” his ex after she received backlash for using the N-word on Instagram Live in May. An insider exclusively told Life & Style the male model “still cares deeply” about Hannah, which is why he came to her defense. 

“Obviously, he doesn’t support what Hannah said, but he’d never throw her under the bus,” explains the insider about the former contestant. “He proved that when they were on the show, and he constantly defended her to the other guys.”

Hannah has since apologized and “hired an educator to help her learn,” she said during an apology video on May 30.

It looks like she’ll always have Tyler in her corner.