Ben Higgins is speaking out. The former Bachelor opened up about his split from fiancee Lauren Bushnell in his upcoming podcast with fellow cohost and Bachelor Nation star Ashley Iaconetti.
“Just to be as politically correct as possible and to also be as truthful as possible, Lauren will always be one of my best friends,” Higgins, 29, said, via E! News. “It’s [a relationship] where I learned a lot about myself; I think she learned a lot about herself. Obviously, she knows me better than anybody else that has gone through this experience, and really probably anybody else in the world. It’s tough.”
Higgins and the former flight attendant, 27, confirmed on Monday that they were going their separate ways. The pair moved to Denver, Colorado, together after getting engaged during the season 20 finale of The Bachelor last year.
In February, a source revealed to Us Weekly that the couple were not getting along. Higgins told Iaconetti, 29, that their breakup was “for the best.”
“I would say the joy that we felt toward our relationship at the beginning was — for some reason — slipping away,” Higgins added on the podcast. “And we were both working very hard to bring that joy back. And it just never seemed to get there. So it was a long time coming but it wasn’t necessarily like we dragged it out. … It’s hard to say goodbye to somebody that you spent so much time with and it’s hard to say goodbye to somebody that you really did believe was the one for you.”
Ben and Ashley: Almost Famous debuts on the iHeartRadio app on Tuesday, May 23.
