Early life and soccer career

The second of three siblings, Galavis was born in Ithaca, New York, to Venezuelan parents, and moved with his family to Barquisimeto, Venezuela, when he was 2 years old. He returned to the United States to play college soccer for Roberts Wesleyan College, where as of 2006 he was tied with two others for that team's third-highest number of assists (25). After several seasons playing in the Primera División Venezolana with Dep. Italchacao, Monagas SC, Aragua FC and Guaros de Lara, he joined Miami FC in February 2008.

Entertainment career

He left soccer after his 2008 season with Miami and began his career in the music business with promotional work in the Miami bar and club scene. Around this time he also began working with Venezuelan musician/songwriters Frank Santofimio and Mario Donoso. They began promoting Venezuelan duet Chino y Nacho.

Galavis began filming television commercials and had a short stint working as a television presenter for a Miami-based sports show, Mega TV's Mega News.

Galavís appeared as a contestant on the ABC reality-television dating competition The Bachelorette in May 2013, but was eliminated midway in the season. On August 5, 2013, ABC announced he would star in season 18 of The Bachelor, scheduled to premiere in January 2014. As a Latino, he was the first person from an ethnic minority to be chosen as bachelor after 17 previous editions. During this time he said he opposed the idea of the show featuring an openly gay bachelor, saying, “I don’t think it is a good example for kids to watch that on TV" and that gay people are "more pervert in a sense.” ABC, Warner Horizon Television and the show's producers responded with a joint statement saying, "Juan Pablo’s comments were careless, thoughtless and insensitive, and in no way reflect the views of the network, the show’s producers or studio." Galavis apologized, saying the comments were taken out of context and citing his lack of full fluency in English, stating, "The word pervert was not what I meant to say.... What I meant to say was that gay people are more affectionate and intense and for a segment of the TV audience this would be too racy to accept.

Personal life

Galavis and his former girlfriend, Venezuelan actress Carla Rodriguez, have a daughter, Camila born on February 14, 2009. He chose Nikki Ferrell on season 18 of The Bachelor but the two ended their relationship in October 2014.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]