Ben Higgins Reveals He and Fiancé Jessica Clarke Are Sleeping in Different Beds Until They Wed

Ben Higgins just revealed that he and his fiancé Jessica Clarke are sleeping in separate beds as they quarantine with her family in Tennessee.

Higgins, 31, appeared on his fellow Bachelor Nation alum Nick Viall‘s podcast, The Viall Files on Wednesday to discuss life in quarantine amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and his recent engagement.

The former Bachelor star revealed in their conversation that he and Clarke not only sleep in separate beds, but are waiting until marriage to have sex.

When asked if he and Clarke share a bed or are waiting to sleep in the same bed until they are married, Higgins answered “separate.”

“Right now she has a bedroom upstairs at her parents’ house, I’m in the downstairs,” he said. Higgins and Clarke are staying with her parents and siblings in Tennessee during the ongoing public health crisis.

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“It’s like a respect level,” Higgins said of their separate bedrooms, “and also just like how — what the logistics of it is.”

When Viall, 39, asked if Higgins has had sex within the past week, the former Bachelor answered, “definitely not this week, and not in the last like, year and a half.”

Viall’s co-host pressed Higgins, asking, “are you guys waiting until you get married?”

“Yeah,” Higgins answered. “Yeah, you’re right.”

However, sleeping apart isn’t foreign to the couple, who have dated long-distance for the entirety of their relationship.

“We haven’t been ever in the same city living together,” Higgins told Viall.

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Higgins also said that while he and Clarke had been hoping to have a short engagement, he thinks that it will likely end up being longer than they initially thought.

“I have a feeling it’s gonna be a longer engagement and here’s why,” Higgins said. “We don’t know what this virus is going to affect.”

“It could be here another two months, two and a half months, at that point, weddings are going to be pushed back, venues are going to be booked, and I don’t want to add stress to a really fun and joyful time knowing that this is the real deal,” said the Almost Famous podcaster, who already had to alter his proposal because of the virus.

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The second reason Higgins suspects he and Clarke will have a longer engagement has everything to do with his bride-to-be’s family.

“The second is, as I’ve mentioned before, her brother plays professional baseball,” Higgins explained. “So there’s a very short season of, like, freedom that he isn’t playing that we can get married. So it’s kind of managing and navigating — well when does his season start up?”

Major League Baseball has been suspended because of the COVID-19 outbreak, and it’s unclear when the sport will return.

“It’s almost impossible to figure it out,” Higgins shared, adding that the couple has considered eloping with just close family, but he wants to leave it up to Clarke.

“That could be fun and exciting and a lot less stress,” he said, “but at the end of all of this, this is Jess’ day.”

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