Feeling good! Ben Higgins is still happy with his and fiancée Jess Clarke’s choice to wait until marriage to sleep together.
“We are excited about this decision,” Higgins, 31, told Ashley Iaconetti during the Monday, April 27, episode of their “Almost Famous” podcast, following his original comments on the topic a week prior. “It’s been the healthiest decision for us.”
The Bachelor alum previously told Nick Viall on Wednesday, April 22, during his “Viall Files” podcast, that he and Clarke, 24, were staying in separate beds while quarantining with her family, saying it’s “just a respect level.” He also admitted that they have “definitely” not had sex yet and are waiting until they tie the knot to do so.
The Denver resident admitted on Monday that it was “weird” to have the topic as a part of “a dinner conversation” for the two families after his comments aired last week, but it was a “healthy conversation” nonetheless.
Higgins revealed that some people might be “confused” by the duo’s no-sex until marriage pact, but “it’s the decision we made that we thought was best for us as a couple to allow us the healthiest relationship.”
The Bachelor: Winter Games alum, who popped the question to the University of Mississippi alum on March 28, noted that their choice wasn’t taken lightly.
“We wanted to do that because we knew that we had something special, and we wanted to do some things personally to make sure that we were setting ourselves up for the most success,” he explained to his listeners. “This is one of the decisions that we’ve made, and it’s been really good for us.”
The Indiana native knows that “it might not be for everybody,” but it’s working for him and his bride-to-be, who have spent most of their relationship in a long-distance situation.
“We’re really excited for what the future holds. I mean it’s worked so far,” the Bachelor Live On Stage cohost said. “We’re happily engaged and having a great time being engaged.”
As for when the couple will walk down the aisle, it’s up in the air amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Higgins revealed there are only a “select few months” that they will get hitched.
“Everybody I’ve talked to in the Clarke family has made sure that I know that we have to this during the [baseball] offseason,” Higgins said on his podcast on March 30.
Since the Tennessee native’s brother is a professional baseball player, the duo plan to work around his time off so the whole family can be in attendance.
Us broke the news that the couple were engaged in March, after dating for more than a year. Higgins and Clarke started their relationship in 2018 after the TV personality messaged her via Instagram.
Higgins was previously engaged to Lauren Bushnell, whom he proposed to during the season 20 finale of The Bachelor. The two called it quits in May 2017, and Bushnell got married in October 2019 to country singer Chris Lane.
