Former Bachelorette star Emily Maynard’s daughter is embarking on a new adventure.
Ricki, 18, shared via Instagram on Sunday, June 2, that she graduated from high school, posting a series of photos of herself with her little brothers. “Def not crying in the second picture🥹🙈,” she captioned sweet snapshots from the event. According to an Instagram post shared by Maynard, the high school grad is headed to Palm Beach Atlantic University in the fall.
Maynard, 38, gave birth to Ricki in June 2005, less than one year after her fiancé — and Ricki’s father — Ricky Hendrick died in an airplane accident. After a brief engagement to Jef Holm, who she met while starring on The Bachelorette, Maynard found love with now-husband Tyler Johnson and they welcomed five children together: Jones, 21 months, Nola, 3, Gatlin, 5, Gibson, 6, and Jennings, 8.
In July 2023, Maynard celebrated her daughter turning 18 by taking her to get her first tattoo. “My girl is turning 18 today, anyone have a horse tranquilizer for me?” Maynard joked via an Instagram Story alongside throwback photos of Ricki.
To celebrate her daughter’s milestone birthday, the former Bachelorette brought her to a tattoo parlor. “Doing grown-up stuff,” Maynard captioned a second pic of Ricki lying on a table while an artist inked her neck.
Maynard shared a similarly loving tribute to her daughter for her 17th birthday, posting a series of photos of Ricki as a baby.
“I feel like I was reborn in so many ways because you brought so much joy to my aching heart,” the former reality TV star captioned the photo. “And now, you continue to brighten every room you walk in and make people, whether you know them or don’t, feel like they’ve known you forever.”
From reality TV to real-life fairy tale. After navigating tragedy and handing out roses, Emily Maynard Johnson found The One in Tyler Johnson. Before her time in Bachelor Nation, the North Carolina native was engaged to NASCAR driver Ricky Hendrick. Following his untimely death in a plane crash at age 24, Maynard Johnson learned she […]
She added, “Your humility, grace, grit, and of course beauty, know no bounds and I’m so proud of you! I love you, Ki! Happy birthday!”
Looking back on her daughter’s journey while speaking to People in 2017, Maynard shared that Ricki makes her “laugh” and “cry” the most.
“Because I had her when I was 19 and we’ve really grown up together,” she said. “So to see her becoming a grown-up … I cried like a baby at her lower-school graduation. People thought somebody had died. I was sobbing, ugly crying — it was horrible.”
