The Bachelor has a way of churning out broken engagements and awkward reunion specials, but Ben Higgins’actual happily-ever-after came from the most unlikely place: a random Instagram direct message in late 2018.
The former Bachelor, who famously proposed to Lauren Bushnell on the season 20 finale in March 2016, only to call it quits in May 2017, seemed destined for the typical Bachelor Nation narrative—plenty of rose ceremonies, not much lasting love. Then Jessica Clarke slid into his DMs, and everything changed. When Higgins introduced Clarke to his followers in February 2019, he was refreshingly honest about it:“I successfully slid into her DM’s a few months ago. I took a risk and I am glad I did.”The couple navigated a long-distance relationship at first, but Higgins was all in, ready to put in the work.“I want to be around her more,”he told Us in March 2019.“She’s just an incredible person.”
What followed was a whirlwind that defied Bachelor Nation expectations. By March 2020, Higgins had proposed in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple made headlines again in April 2020 when Higgins revealed they were waiting to have sex until marriage—a commitment both had made together. In November 2021, they said their vows at Cherokee Dock in Nashville, with a guest list of Bachelor Nation royalty including Nick Viall, Shawn Booth, Ashley Iaconetti, Jared Haibon, Becca Kufrin, and Thomas Jacobs in attendance. Two years of marriage brought them to August 2024, when Clarke announced she was pregnant with their first child. In February 2025, their daughter Winona arrived healthy and beautiful. And now, in July 2026, the couple is expecting their second baby girl before the year’s end.
What’s remarkable about Higgins and Clarke’s journey isn’t just that it worked—it’s that it felt genuinely grounded. Clarke has been consistently supportive, even when it meant sitting out reruns of his Bachelor season to protect her own emotional wellbeing. In November 2020, on the two-year anniversary of their first Instagram DM, Clarke wrote:“Waking up 2 years ago and seeing a DM from a random stranger, I never imagined I’d be marrying him.”By December 2020, they’d bought a house together in Denver. And in Higgins’November 2023 anniversary post, he captured something that goes against everything Bachelor Nation typically delivers: genuine contentment.“In the words of my wife @jessclarke_,‘marriage is great, every night we get to have a sleepover with your best friend,'”he wrote.
The Bachelor’s success rate at producing lasting marriages is notoriously abysmal, but Higgins and Clarke’s story proves that sometimes the algorithm—or in this case, Instagram’s—can work in your favor. They skipped the dramatic rose ceremonies and went straight to real partnership. Two kids, a home in Colorado, and a marriage built on shared values and mutual support later, Higgins finally got his happily ever after. It just didn’t come from a television show.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.