ABC
The Bachelorette’s Marcus Shoberg ‘Doesn’t Have a Close Relationship’ With His Adoptive Parents
Marcus Shoberg had a hometown date with Jenn Tran on The Bachelorette, but she didn’t meet his parents when he took her to Washington for the day. The absence of Marcus’ parents, Gerald Shoberg and Dawn Shoberg, left fans wondering if the reality star’s relationship with his family is strained.
“Because Marcus is adopted, he doesn’t have that connection to his parents,” a source exclusively tells Life & Style. “He is closer to his dad than he is his mom. He butts heads with his mom.”
On The Bachelorette, Marcus, 32, opened up about how his birth parents left him and his sister at daycare one day and never came back to pick them up. He revealed that he and his sister, Gabriella, were in foster care as children. “Families would try us on for size and there was a lot of times I thought I was gonna have a mom and dad, and then they would change their mind,” he explained. “Me and my sister would end up back in the foster home.”
He did not specify what happened when he and Gabriella were finally adopted by Gerald and Dawn. “I wouldn’t say he’s close [with his parents] since he’s been out of Minnesota since he was 18,” a second source shared. “[Gerald and Dawn] are on the older side and they are definitely homebodies. He does worry about his parents getting older and wants them to be around when he eventually has kids. He doesn’t talk to them a ton, though. He just doesn’t have that type of relationship with them.”
The first insider confirmed that Marcus’ family is “so nice and sweet” and also described his parents as being “calm and quiet just like he is.” However, they theorized that Marcus’ decision to not have his parents on the show stemmed from an incident involving Dawn after Marcus was injured while serving as an Army ranger.
“When he got hurt in Afghanistan, the military called and said he may die,” the source said. “Dawn actually called the news about it and when Marcus woke up he was upset that she was talking publicly about him. He didn’t want anyone to know. I don’t think her intentions were bad with what she did, but that really upset him and that’s probably why he didn’t want her on the show. She’s more the type to talk a lot, so it’s better to keep her out of the public eye.”
On Marcus’ hometown date, he introduced Jenn, 26, to his sister and a bunch of his friends that live in Washington. “He feels more connected to his sisters and buddies from the war than his parents,” the first insider explained. “He left home when he was 18, so it’s not that he’s estranged from his parents, he just doesn’t have a close relationship with them.”
Marcus received a rose from Jenn after hometown dates and will now travel to Hawaii for fantasy suites week alongside the other top 3 finalists, Devin Strader and Jonathon Johnson, during the Monday, August 26, episode. However, the Army veteran has expressed doubts about whether or not he’ll be ready to propose at the end of the process, and has admitted to being worried about not being as far along as the other men.
