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Bachelor Nation fans fell in love with the soft-spoken, unassuming Ben Higgins in Season 11 of The Bachelorette when he blushed as Kaitlyn Bristowe embarrassed him by asking about his sexual history. His subsequent Bachelor season and epic engagement to and break up with flight attendant Lauren Bushnell had viewers wondering if Higgins was doomed to continue with these roller-coaster romances.
Higgins graciously congratulated Bushnell when she married country singer Chris Lane in October 2019. Would Mr. Nice Guy’s bachelor finally finish first and get what he wanted from day one: marrying his forever person?
It looks like his happily-ever-after has arrived because Ben Higgins and 24-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Clarke are engaged, according to US Weekly. The couple revealed on Chris Harrison and Lauren Zima’s “fireside chats” that they’re quarantined together at the home of Higgins’ parents in Indiana.
The relationship began on social media when Higgins, 31, saw an Instagram photo of Clarke and worked up the nerve to slide into her DMs. The two share a love of hockey and Jesus. Higgins gushed about their “normal and real” relationship to Access Hollywood in January. Normal being relative: when Higgins announced their relationship publicly, Clarke’s followers soared to 50,000 overnight.
The two have been dating long-distance for 16 months as Higgins runs his podcasts and Generous Coffee Co. charity in Denver and Clarke works to serve women through events in Nashville. Clarke co-owns SweatNet in Nashville, an online community for spas and workout facilities and recently told the She’s in the City by NaSHEville podcasts that she hosts women’s groups to discuss body image and relationship struggles. Higgins and Clarke had planned to be engaged before she moved to Denver to live with him and the fact that Clarke recently launched SweatNet in Denver signaled an impending change of address.
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While Higgins initially wanted to propose before the end of 2020, he worried that his upcoming The Bachelor Live on Stage tour would throw a wrench into any big plans for the couple. However, now that the Coronavirus pandemic has canceled live entertainment into May 2020, Higgins and Clarke will enjoy plenty of free time to plan a wedding.
Higgins realized that he had something special when he and Clark attended the nuptials of Bachelor alums Jared Haibon and Ashley Iaconetti. He told E! News that, when he became emotional during the ceremony, his girlfriend squeezed his hand and he knew that she loved him and would stay with him “no matter thick and thin.”