While Chris Harrison has been dishing out date cards as the host of the Bachelor and Bachelorette for almost two decades, it was his girlfriend, Lauren Zima, who made the first move on the dating expert.
“Oh, I DM’d him,” the ET Live host, 31, told Nick Viall during an interview on his “Viall Files” podcast released on Tuesday, July 2. “I will say, I DM’d after a bit of a vibe.”
Zima went on to note that she had been interviewing Harrison, 47, for about three years before they first got flirtatious. “It was always incredibly professional,” she said. “Not in a negative way … but I never looked at him and ever considered [if] I found him attractive.”
The Roses and Rosé host went on to explain that it was at a craft service table that the spark first flew. “He just gave me a different vibe,” Zima dished. “It was fairly overt. He mentioned something about picking his kids up or something. He somehow brought up being single, I think. And then I said something like, ‘I’m single now,’ and he was like,’ Oh.’ But I said it in a more eloquent way. God, I don’t know. Somehow it was communicated … I opened the door and he walked through.”
Zima explained that after a “little bit of messaging” via Instagram after their coffee cart “vibe” Harrison finally asked her out for a drink and the rest is history.
Harrison and Zima made their red carpet debut in January at Entertainment Weekly’s pre-SAG Awards party at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. ET reported at the time that the pair had been dating for months and are “very happy” together.
Prior to his relationship with Zima, the Texas native was married to Gwen Harrison for 18 years before they divorced in 2012. The former spouses share sons Joshua and Taylor.
