Jillian Harris Gets Engaged: Former ‘Bachelorette’ Star Gets Best Christmas Gift Ever From Justin Pasutto

Jillian Harris will be starting off the New Year with some bling on her finger. The former Bachelorette star shared an Instagram photo over the weekend, revealing that she got an engagement ring from longtime love Justin Pasutto for Christmas. Harris and Pasutto are parents to a baby boy, Leo, who was born in August.

“Well THAT was SOME Christmas morning!!!!!” Harris captioned a pic of herself and Pasutto on their bed with their son and two dogs.

“OH MY GOD my heart cannot handle this much LOVE! @slipperygoose you’ve made me the HAPPIEST girl in the world.”

Harris added humorous hashtags to her post with #Finally and #ISimplyAskedForOneThingForChristmas, and she tagged Minichiello Jewelers in the Christmas Day photo.

Jillian Harris made headlines as the star of the fifth season of The Bachelorette back in 2009. Jillian became engaged to Ed Swiderski, and the couple went through a messy breakup the following year. But Harris didn’t give up on finding her happily ever after. Earlier this year, Jillian wrote about her love story with Pasutto on her lifestyle blog, revealing that she was smitten as soon as he met him, despite the fact that he initially fibbed about his age. Pasutto is eight years younger than Harris, but the former reality star says the age difference was “never really an issue” for them. And while Swiderski wasn’t “the one” for Harris, Pasutto clearly is. In an interview with PopSugar, Jillian said Justin is truly a keeper.

“I think that Justin is one of the most perfect people on earth; he is so giving, he is so positive, he loves my family, he loves his family, he loves to communicate, he is protective, there are so many great things,” Harris said.

The Love It or List It host added that Pasutto and her father have coffee together almost every morning. Jillian also revealed that her former fiancé was nothing like Justin.

“Ed wasn’t honest, he wasn’t close with his family, he wasn’t close with my family or my friends. He didn’t have the same values as I did, he wasn’t patient, he wasn’t sweet, there was nothing about him that was great for me, but because everyone was rooting for him and I was in love with him at the time I tried to force that to make that work,” Harris explained.

Now, both Jillian and Ed have seemingly found their soul mates. Last year, Swiderski married TV reporter Natalie Bomke in a sunset ceremony at the open-air veranda of the Crown on the 25th floor of the iconic Tribune Tower in Chicago. According to People, Swiderski even offered up a throwback to his Bachelorette days during the ceremony by presenting his mom and his mother-in-law each with a long-stem red rose and asking them: “Will you accept this rose?”

Jillian Harris will likely steer clear of any Bachelorette references. While she told People that she has no regrets about signing on to star on the ABC reality dating show, she does have bad memories of her high-profile breakup.

“I was so devastated,” Jillian said of that tumultuous time in her life.

“I was under 90 pounds, I would have to pull over to the side of the road and have anxiety attacks. There were blogs about me and my relationships. It was crazy…I look back now, and I understand that relationships are really difficult… I’ve seen the highs and lows. I’m more realistic now.”

Harris added that by the time she met Pasutto she was ready for a healthy relationship.

“When I met Justin, there were so many things I’d learned and so many things I’d gotten out of my system,” Jillian said. “It’s so hard when you’re going through a tough time, you just want to punch people when they say things are going to work out. But they really do!”

[Featured Image by Andrew Chin/Getty Images]