Bachelorette winner Dotun says he's 'making progress' with Charity's mom

It might have been the most feel-good ending to The Bachelorette... ever?

On Monday's season finale, Charity Lawson, the 27-year-old child and family therapist from Georgia, accepted a proposal from Dotun Olubeko, the 30-year-old integrative medicine specialist from Brooklyn — and there wasn't a dry eye in Bachelor Nation.

Soon after, Charity sat in the Tealight Candle Thunderdome with the man she sent home, 27-year-old tennis pro Joey Graziadei, and they had the most adult, civil, loving post-break up conversation we've seen on this show in years. (Being named the next Bachelor probably helped heal Joey's broken heart.)

Now, Charity and Dotun are starting their lives together in Los Angeles as she prepares to compete on Dancing With the Stars. EW grabbed a few minutes with the (legitimately) happy couple to discuss wedding plans, why Charity's brother Nehemiah fell for Dotun before she did, and how they think Joey will do as the Bachelor.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations! Now that the show is over, what's the first normal, everyday, real-life thing you've done together?

CHARITY LAWSON: Getting in the same Uber and going to dinner, that's about it. Also, going out with some friends. It was like, "Oh my gosh, we're doing this together!"

What are you most looking forward to doing together?

DOTUN OLUBEKO: I haven't seen how she grocery shops, and she hasn't seen how I grocery shop.

CHARITY: I'm a skilled grocery shopper. [Laughs]

DOTUN: It's really all the little things that most people do in their own relationships. Just walk down the street, and like she said, take Ubers together and not have to take separate ones 10 minutes apart.

Charity, during After the Final Rose, your mom said she's gotten to know Dotun more since the show and she's very happy for you both. What was that first post-show meeting with Mama Vickie like?

CHARITY: [The finale] was the first time that we've all been able to be together in person, because he's in New York and I'm down in the South. There've been lots of FaceTimes in-between. Every now and then we just check in with the parents. My dad is just a goober [laughs] and he loves Dotun, but with Mama Vickie she is a little bit tougher at times. But she's grown to just love and admire him, and she knows how much love he has for me.

Dotun, do you feel like you've won your future mother-in-law over?

DOTUN: Um, I hope so. Like Charity said, she's a very tough woman in a good way. I do think at this point she sees pretty clearly how much Charity means to me and that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make her happy. So yeah, it's only upwards from here. We're making progress.

Charity's brother Nehemiah wasn't in Fiji for the family meeting, but he was at the mansion on night one, where he went "undercover" as a bartender. Dotun, did you have any interactions with him that night?

DOTUN: Actually, I spoke with him a lot. I went to the bar over and over — I'm a big guy, so I need a few more drinks to get sauced up [laughs]. I talked to him a lot, and I remember when he came out [and revealed he was Charity's brother], I was like, "Oh my God, what did I say?" But I just said stuff like, "Fate brought me here. Charity seems like a great person." I didn't say anything bad, and I think the inside joke is that Nehemiah fell in love with me before Charity did. We had great conversations, and I believe he had nothing but good things to say about our interactions that night as well.

CHARITY: Yeah. I didn't even get to talk to Dotun on night one! He had way more conversations with Dotun than I did.

In retrospect, Charity, do you understand your mom's decision not to tell you which guy she thought you should pick?

CHARITY: I respect it. I respect my mom no matter how difficult that moment in time was. I was quite literally losing my mind, so I think you guys all saw that, too. Emotions were running really high, and I was essentially pleading with her and anyone in my family to rescue me. But I am grateful, because at that point I think I was in a place where I would have been too easily swayed because I was just so exhausted. I'm glad that I allowed myself to get to the place where I had to make the best decision for myself, and I do respect my mom for not giving me anything besides what she knew I was capable of doing.

Dotun, your mom already said she wants to whisk you two away for a Nigerian wedding — what are your thoughts on that?

DOTUN: Yeah, my mom is on the opposite side of the spectrum [laughs]. That lady is something else. I love her, though, and obviously her enthusiasm only actually brought us closer. Yeah, I'm sure [it's] going to happen, I'm sure we're going to have something in Nigeria, some type of wedding. It keeps getting brought up, and I think it's apt for our cultures to have both. So we'll have the Nigerian wedding and possibly a more intimate one for closer friends and family. When we get there, we'll get there.

During hometown dates, Dotun, your grandma called it! She said you and Charity were "bonded from Heaven."

DOTUN: It's wild, I had no idea. I watched that back and was like, "Grandma said that?" I was like, "Dang, Grandma knew!"

CHARITY: So beautiful. So beautiful.

Charity, as you mentioned, you're based in Georgia and Dotun is in Brooklyn. What are you guys thinking in terms of where you want to settle?

DOTUN: Obviously with Dancing With the Stars, she's going to be in LA, so I'm coming with her. Luckily I can work remotely with everything I do. We don't want to be separate, we want to continue enjoying each other's company and growing our love. So we'll be in LA for a few months, and after that, who knows? We're kind of keeping things open and a little bit private, but maybe East coast, maybe back to New York, or something along those lines. But definitely wherever we go, we'll be together.

Charity, what advice do you have for Joey now that he's going from being a contestant on The Bachelorette to the lead on The Bachelor?

CHARITY: The experience itself is so life-changing. Just from a lead's perspective, it's obviously completely different from being a contestant. There are so many other things that you have to consider, and you're not just focused on one person, you're focused on every single relationship. And as we know with Joey, he's a loverboy, so I think he will be very intentional in that regard. That's the challenging part. If he does give himself to every single relationship, that's going to be something that he's really mindful of and really taking it day-by-day. It's going to be a lot, but I know that he has all the necessary tools to be successful in this, and certainly if they cast it as good as they did for me, he will have some phenomenal options, and hopefully his person will be in that group. We'll be watching and wishing him the best.

Dotun, have you been able to talk to Joey to give him any advice on finding love?

DOTUN: He has texted me, and throughout the season we have texted about our weird bond that we have through loving the same person. But I know he's ecstatic for me and I'm ecstatic for him. Truly, he's going to be a great Bachelor, I know it. He's so intentional. Shoot, I fell in love with the guy! When he looks at you in your eyes, it's so intense, but it's in a good way, and I think the girls are going to be head-over-heels for him.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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