Former “Bachelor” contestant Ben Higgins revealed he is in a new relationship.
Higgins took to Instagram to post about his new relationship with Ole Miss graduate, Jessica Clarke.
Higgins was engaged to fiancé Lauren Bushnell at the end of his season as the bachelor. Since then he has only had one private relationship. He shared with Entertainment Tonight that it was not easy to publicly say he’s in a relationship.
“I am a little concerned because this is a big identity shift and switch for me, and that feels weird. But I’m ready for it, I’m excited about it and I wouldn’t do it with just anybody,” Higgins admitted to ET.
This doesn’t surprise me, as his break up with Bushnell was so public. It has to be hard to put your relationship back out there and deal with the mess publicly if something goes wrong. (RELATED: Why Is ‘The Bachelor’ So Popular?)
Clarke is just a normal girl that Higgins met through social media—not really in typical “Bachelor” style. He reached out to her through her DM’s around Thanksgiving. They messaged back and forth for awhile before Higgins flew Clarke out to Denver so the two could meet face-to-face.
As for now, the new couple is long-distance with no future plans for one to move to be with the other.
Many “Bachelor” fans are definitely mourning with me tonight as the news starts to set in that Ben Higgins is officially off the market. Higgins’ sweet personality made him an instant fan favorite and I’d bet a lot of money that this news isn’t happy news for everyone.