'The Bachelorette' 's JoJo Fletcher Opens Up About Past Relationships: 'I've Struggled with Trust Issues'

"If you go into this situation looking for the worst, you won't find anybody," Fletcher tells PEOPLE in this week's issue

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Published on July 13, 2016 02:30 PM

As JoJo Fletcher prepares to visit the hometowns of her four remaining suitors, The Bachelorette‘s leading lady continues to face challenges, heartbreaks and surprises.

“Robby [Hayes] was the first one to tell me he loved me, so I was a little worried maybe he was trying to fill a void,” Fletcher, 25, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “Four years with ex? That’s a long time. But I don’t believe any of my guys would have stayed if their feelings weren’t real.”

“I’ve struggled with trust issues – most girls have,” she admits. “But I trusted them unless they gave me a reason not to. If you go into this situation looking for the worst, you won’t find anybody.”

• For more about JoJo Fletcher’s journey to find love, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

And while Fletcher did previously experience what it’s like to be on the other side during her time on Ben Higgins‘ season of The Bachelor, now that she’s running the show – and making some incredibly tough choices – she tells PEOPLE it’s “exciting but overwhelming” to have multiple men falling in love with her.

“It’s so crazy,” she says. “Watching it takes me back to each moment. I remember exactly how I was feeling. But the kissing makes me cringe! There are certain makeout scenes with the music and the up-close sound effects, and it’s like, ‘Oh man, my father is watching!’ ”

“Each date got so much more serious,” Fletcher admits. “ Jordan Rogers tells me he loves me; Robby tells me he’s in love with me; Chase McNary tells me he wants to spend his life with me. It’s all such big stuff. It’s very exciting but also overwhelming.”

The Bachelorette airs Mondays (8 p.m. ET on ABC.