The Bachelor’s Ben Higgins Defends His Sleeping Arrangements With Fiancée Jessica Clarke

Ben Higgins is defending his sleeping arrangements with fiancée Jessica Clarke.

The Bachelor star spoke about the buzz around the topic during Monday’s episode of The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast.

The subject first came up during last week’s episode of Nick Viall‘s podcast The Viall Files. At one point, Higgins was asked if he and Clarke sleep together or if they are sleeping in separate beds until they’re married.

“Separate,” Higgins replied.

He then added they’ve been sleeping in separate beds while social distancing at her parents’ house. 

“It’s like a respect level and also just, like, what the logistics of it is,” he said.

Higgins was also asked if he and Clarke have had sex in the past week, or if they’re waiting to have sex until they’re married.

“Yeah, you’re right. So definitely not this week and not in, like, the past year and a half,” Higgins replied.

During his talk with Ashley Iaconetti, Higgins acknowledged it was “weird to have this as now a dinner conversation for her family, my family and Jess and I” but said it was still a “healthy conversation to have.”

“We are excited about this decision,” he later added. “It’s been the healthiest decision for us. I think people are confused about it or like going, ‘What in the world is going on here?’ It’s the decision we made that we thought was best for us as a couple to allow us the healthiest relationship. And 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. And this is one of the decisions that we’ve made, and it’s been really good for us.”

While Higgins noted “it might not be for everybody,” he said “it’s been healthy and it’s been great” for him and his bride-to-be.

“We’re really excited for what the future holds,” Higgins, who proposed to Clarke last month, said. “I mean it’s worked so far. We’re happily engaged having a great time being engaged.”

Higgins was previously engaged to Lauren Bushnell, whom he fell in love with on his season of The Bachelor. However, the two broke up in 2017. Bushnell is now married to country singer Chris Lane. In fact, fans saw the couple appear on Monday’s episode of The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart.

To hear the full podcast episode, check out iHeartRadio.