Former The Bachelor star Ben Higgins has revealed his girlfriend Jessica Clarke inspires him every day and he couldn't be more pleased they got together, even if it was in an unconventional way.
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"[I'm] really happy. She's a very kind, pure, emphatic and supportive person in general. And she's not only like that to me. I'm part of that, but she's like that to everybody around her," Ben, 30, told Us Weekly.
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"She challenges me to be more empathetic, more loving, more caring, more kind as well. So I'm very happy."
Ben first revealed he's in a new relationship in January on his The Ben and Ashley I. Almost Famous Podcast featuring Ashley Iaconetti, but he chose not to identify Jessica as the woman in his life right away.
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Several weeks later, the Season 20 The Bachelor star introduced Jessica, a 23-year-old Nashville resident and recent University of Mississippi graduate who reportedly sells LED lighting for a living, to the world, when the cute couple also went Instagram official.
Ben told Us of his relationship with Jessica, "It hasn't distracted me from the things I love doing and the things I envisioned [for] my life... over the next few years."
Ben added, "If anything, it's enhanced it and allowed me a freedom to know that, yeah, I've got a partner in crime that will be there to have my back. So yeah, things are great."
Ben previously disclosed he first saw Jessica by stumbling across her Instagram profile when looking for posts about a Nashville hockey game.
Ben acknowledged he was taken with her beauty and decided to direct message her around the time of Thanksgiving 2018.
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Jessica reportedly answered Ben's message, and then in December 2018, Ben flew her to Denver, CO, so they could meet face-to-face.
"It was unexpected," Ben said of their romance. "Our story's a little different -- a tad, maybe, crazy -- but it worked out."
Last month, Ben gushed about how "incredible" Jessica is as a person and girlfriend.
"I think our biggest points of contention are typically when I'm down and out and bitter, and she's the one pushing me to just be more about love and more about kindness," he told the magazine at the time.
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"That's what I'm most attracted to, because I know that listening to her will always make me a better man."
This marks the Generous Coffee co-founder's first public relationship since his engagement to Lauren Bushnell, which aired on The Bachelor finale in 2016.
Ben and Lauren broke up in May 2017, and he only entered one brief and private relationship before meeting Jessica, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Lauren, 29, has since moved on with country singer Chris Lane, and the pair is currently living together in Nashville, TN.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski