The Bachelor’s Juliette Herrera was in a ‘secret relationship’ with actor Joel Edgerton

She is one of two dozen women vying for the attention of Locky Gilbert on The Bachelor this year.

But nine years before Juliette Herrera signed up to reality television to find love, the 34-year-old stylist was in a ‘secret relationship’ with actor Joel Edgerton.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a close friend of the reality star revealed that the couple dated for four months from September 2011.

‘Juliette was working as a stylist for [Cosmopolitan magazine] at the time and he was about to start filming Gatsby, so they kept their relationship low-key,’ the source revealed.

‘They’ve kept in touch and been really cool about their break up, and Juliette has been respectful of his romance with Christine (Centenera).’

In fact, Juliette attended a screening of his 2018 film Boy Erased in Los Angeles.

Following their failed romance, Joel met and dated model Alexis ‘Lexi’ Blake in 2012 for two years after they met while holidaying in Bali.

However, they decided to call it quits so Joel could pursue filmmaking.

Joel has since been dating Christine Centenera after they ‘debuted their romance’ at GQ Australia’s Man of the Year awards in Sydney on November 14, 2018.

They first sparked romance rumours a month earlier, when they were pictured in an intimate embrace in Sydney.

Joel previously told The Daily Telegraph that he plans to spend more time in his native Australia in the future.

‘My focus next is about what I can make at home so that I can celebrate two of my favourite things: being at home and making stuff so that I am not always away,’ he said.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Juliette and Joel for comment.