Ben Higgins & Jessica Clarke Engaged After One Year Of Dating

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Ben Higgins and Jessica Clarke, who have been quarantining together at his family’s home amid the coronavirus pandemic, reportedly got engaged just over a year after they first started dating.

Ben Higgins, 31, and Jessica Clarke are officially engaged, according to Us Weekly. The Bachelor alum and his pretty lady love took the romantic next step after celebrating their one year anniversary around Jan. The lovebirds’ big news happened while they were quarantining in his family’s home together due to the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve been there since many stay at home orders were put into place all over the U.S. and it’s been quite the departure from their usual long distance relationship which required them going back and forth from his home in Denver, CO, to hers in Nashville, TN.

Although the details of their engagement have yet to be announced, the thrilling news doesn’t come as too much of a surprise since Ben has previously expressed that he would “definitely” be proposing to Jessica, the outlet reported, and it was only a matter of time before the engagement would come.. “I don’t think that’s a question,” Ben told the outlet about a possible engagement in Jan. “We’re great. It’s fun. It’s just healthy … I think she would say the same. Our relationship is healthy. I’m a better version of myself, a more free version of myself than I’ve been in a while.”

On Mar. 25, Ben hinted at popping the question to Jessica soon when he told Us that their self-quarantining was helping them to become even closer. “I believe that all time together helps you prep for the next steps,” he explained. “This has definitely been another time where being with Jess has made me excited for our next steps.”

In addition to his most recent comments, Ben first opened up about how he was dating someone new in the Jan. 14, 2019 episode of The Ben And Ashley I. Almost Famous podcast and it was soon revealed that Jessica was that someone. They first connected when he slid into her DMS and sent her a message. A couple of months later in Mar. 2019, the former reality star also gave us an update on their romance and it sounded more promising than ever. “I am really happy. Jessica is fantastic and we’ve been dating for several months,” he EXCLUSIVELY explained to HollywoodLife. “I am hopeful our relationship will continue to grow, however we want to be wise about it and not put too much pressure on ourselves. That’s why we waited a while to go public – we just wanted to be sure that we were both comfortable doing so.”

Congratulations to the happy couple!