Who wouldn’t miss Ben Higgins? The Bachelor season 20’s Amanda Stanton memorably introduced daughters Kinsley, 3, and Charlie, 2, to the software salesman during her visit home, and she tells Us Weekly exclusively that her children have asked her about him since she concluded her run on the ABC dating series.
Stanton’s relationship with Higgins was moving along at a steady pace when she nabbed a hometown date as one of the last four women standing in the February 22 episode. But Higgins, 27, seemed a bit overwhelmed as he helped look after the tykes during his time in Orange County, California, and Stanton was sent packing after the rose ceremony.
The esthetician spoke to Us at the Women Tell All taping on Saturday, February 27, where she revealed that she’s “happy” with the way she introduced Higgins to her kids, as the girls have fond memories of their day with the Bachelor.
“They’ve asked about him,” Stanton tells Us. “My kids are the friendliest kids ever. I’ve never introduced a guy to my kids before. But I also introduced Ben in a very friendly way. We didn’t kiss in front of them — we didn’t even really hug in front of them.”
“They had such a great time with him,” she continues. “Kinsley knows who Ben is, and I let her watch her scenes back. She knows my friend Ben — we chase each other on the beach. She’s brought it up, but it’s not in [a] way that’s like, ‘Where’s that guy that you brought?'”
During the Women Tell All, Olivia Caridi apologizes to Stanton for having said during the season that her life is “like that show Teen Mom,” and Stanton tells Us that she appreciates the news anchor’s mea culpa.
“It was more than I expected out of her,” Stanton says. “I was happy with it. At the end of the day, everybody is entitled to their own opinions, and not everybody is going to have the same idea of being a mom or being a single mom as I do, or how a lot of people do. So I think it’s something that I just have to get used to, and there is always going to be somebody who feels like my kids are baggage or that no guy is going to want me because I have kids, and I feel like that’s kind of how she felt.”
Stanton says that, of Higgins’ two remaining ladies, she thinks Lauren Bushnell is a better fit for him than JoJo Fletcher, in part because Stanton herself developed a closer friendship with Bushnell. And the mom of two also says that she would consider taking on the role of the season 12 Bachelorette, although she’s not sure that it would be the right choice for her.
“I kind of think I just want to meet a guy the normal way, and I think especially with my kids getting older — and my oldest is starting school — I don’t know if I want our lives in such the public eye,” she says. “I think keeping our lives a little bit more private from here on out is probably a better decision.”
Us Weekly has exclusively revealed that producers have decided to pick one of Higgins’ final four ladies — Stanton, Bushnell, Fletcher or Caila Quinn — as the next Bachelorette.
Tell Us: Did Stanton introduce Ben to her kids too soon? And who should be the next Bachelorette?
The Bachelor airs on ABC on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST.
