The couple started dating after Ben Higgins slid into her DMs on Instagram
Ben Higgins hasn’t lost his romantic touch since his Bachelor days.
After introducing his new girlfriend Jessica Clarke to the world, Higgins invited her to call into Monday’s episode of The Ben and Ashley I. Almost Famous podcast — and when his co-host Ashley Iaconetti asked about their first kiss, the couple revealed that it happened the very first time they met in person. (They first started talking after he slid into her DMs.)
“I think I walked outside and just laid it [on her],” he recalled.
“I thought it was romantic,” gushed Clarke. “Mostly because when I saw you I was like, ‘Okay, do I make a joke or do I just say hi?’ And then you just kissed me so I didn’t have to do either of them.”
“I just went for it and she didn’t say no,” Higgins added.
And since Higgins and Clarke are in a long distance relationship (he lives in Denver, and she’s based in Nashville) Iaconetti also inquired how often they make time to see each other.
“Jess, how often would you want to see me?” Higgins joked.
“Well, if we’re honest, every day,” she responded.
“Awww!” interjected Iaconetti. “He’s been smiling through this entire interview. I truly have not ever seen Ben this happy.”
“Yeah, she’s great,” he said.
But “realistically,” Clarke said they try to see each other every two weeks, because any longer than that and it “really gets hard.”
“Whenever we went a month — we’d seen each other, what, three weeks in a row that time? And then we went a month without seeing each other, so that was the worst,” she said. “We can’t have that happen again.”
When they’re apart, they rely heavily on FaceTime.
“Honestly, FaceTime is really great,” Higgins said. “It’s such a benefit now to relationships that you can still see the person, you can still interact with them. Yeah, it’s still better to be around them, but I think we FaceTime every day. There’s no reason not to.”
Higgins ended his season of The Bachelor in 2016 by proposing to finalist Lauren Bushnell, but the couple called it quits in May 2017.
Last month, Higgins revealed he was in his first serious relationship since the split, calling his new girlfriend “the best, purest person I know.” He later revealed the mystery lady as Clarke on Instagram, writing, “I’ve been selfishly keeping this girl to myself for too long! Hey friends meet @jessclarke_! I successfully slid into her DMs a few months ago. I took a risk and I am glad I did.”
“She is someone special, and I look forward to where life is going to take us,” the Generous Coffee co-founder continued. “Stay tuned for the journey.”