Lauren Bushnell Supports Ben Higgins’ Podcast But Wishes He Didn’t Start It 72 Hours After Their Breakup
Lauren Bushnell is trying to be a supportive ex-fiancée, but she has a bone to pick with former Bachelor star Ben Higgins. In an interview with People magazine, Lauren Bushnell revealed that she was still hurting over the couple’s broken engagement when her chatty ex decided to dish all the dirty details on his new iHeart podcast with pal and fellow franchise alum Ashley Iaconetti.
Ben Higgins debuted the iHeartRadio podcast, Ben and Ashley: Almost Famous, less than 72 hours after he and Lauren announced their split in a joint statement. Bushnell calls the whole thing “really bad timing.”
“The whole podcast thing was really hard at first because I was hurting so much and all of a sudden they’re doing a podcast,” Lauren told People. “But that was just really bad timing.”
Lauren went on to say that she knows Ben didn’t mean any ill will towards her when he talked about their private breakup details, but that she just wishes it didn’t happen that way.
“I know that wasn’t intentional by any means,” Bushnell told the magazine.
“I know when it came to us talking, there was some frustration. This is so private and so fresh and so new.”
Ben Higgins kicked off his podcast by saying that “the joy” he felt with Lauren at the beginning of their relationship started to slip away after their reality TV shows ended. (After getting engaged on The Bachelor Season 20, Bushnell moved with her fiancée to Denver, and the couple starred in the Freeform series, Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After.) Higgins also told a few tales about how Bushnell took all of the furniture when she moved out of the couple’s Denver home, revealing she left him with a TV, an uncomfortable wicker chair, and the bed he purchased when he was in college. I
“My house and I are feeling very similar: sad, mourning, a little empty,” The Bachelor star told his listeners. “And so I feel like this is a bonding time for my house and I. In all seriousness, it’s really sad. But, I do have my whiskey cart left.”
After receiving some backlash for portraying Lauren as a spiteful ex, Higgins later took to Twitter to apologize for comments he made on his podcast that perceived Lauren “in a negative way.”
“This week on the Almost Famous podcast I talked about the furnishings Lauren moved out and want to clarify my statements that have been reported through the media,” Higgins tweeted. “I am not sleeping on just a college mattress nor are there just two mirrors on the wall of my home. Lauren left many pieces of furniture to try and make me as comfortable as possible in a very uncomfortable situation. She went out of her way to actually purchase some new things for my place as well…I spoke too soon and didn’t fully disclose the situation. I feel bad that the story told was not accurate and perceived Lauren in a negative way. ”
— Benjamin Higgins (@benhiggi) May 21, 2017
With the unfortunately timed initial podcast out of the way, Bushnell told People she “genuinely supports” everything her ex does.
“It’s nice that nothing bad happened so that we can remain really close, but at the same time it almost makes it more confusing,” Lauren admitted.
While she didn’t find her “happily ever after” with The Bachelor star, Lauren Bushnell says it gives her “some sense of peace” to know that what they had was real—even if they found it on a reality show.
Take a look at the video below for more on what went wrong with Lauren Bushnell’s Bachelor relationship.
[Featured Image by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for iHeartMedia]
