It’s over. The Bachelor’s Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell have split, the former couple confirmed in a statement to People on Monday, May 15. Find out more in the video above, and detailed below.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce our decision to go our separate ways,” their statement reads. “We feel fortunate for the time we had together, and will remain friends with much love and respect for one another. We wish nothing but the best for each other, and ask for your support and understanding at this time.”
News of the pair’s breakup comes months after Bushnell, 27, shared a sweet message for Higgins (but hinted at trouble in paradise) on March 23, his 29th birthday, via Instagram. “Happy birthday babe!!!!!” she captioned a photo of the smiling duo posing next to a horse. “I’m so thankful for this life together. Although sometimes rocky you always hold my hand and support me through it, always with a smile on your face. You deserve the world, especially today. 🍾💕.”
Fans first speculated that the duo — who got engaged in 2016, as seen on the season 20 finale of The Bachelor — might have hit a rough patch in February when Bushnell took off for Nashville without her fiance, and then spent a girls’ weekend in Punta Mita, Mexico, to celebrate her 27th birthday. Several of Bushnell’s social media followers also noticed that she wasn’t wearing the Neil Lane engagement ring Higgins proposed to her with on either trip.
“They don’t get along. She’s told people recently how hard it is,” a source previously told Us Weekly of Higgins and Bushnell, whose romance lived on past The Bachelor on the first and final season of Freeform’s Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?. “He’s a great guy, but they should split.”
