All sorts of things can lead to an otherwise healthy couple's breakup. In the case of Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell, their breakup may have been caused by Bushnell's apprehension at doing their Bachelor spinoff — or, at least, expedited by it.
The couple, who met when Higgins was the Bachelor during season 20 of the ABC dating competition, appeared rocky on their Freeform series, which already had the questionable title of Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? (Seriously, that question mark doesn't exactly scream "ideal match.") A fairytale ending it was not for these two, who split in mid-May after moving in together in October. Now, Bushnell is opening up to People about a big contributing factor to their eventual decision to separate.
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While a reality show may have brought these two together initially — even though Higgins did say the L-word to both Bushnell and runner-up JoJo Fletcher in the season finale — Bushnell admitted she didn't really want to return to TV. She told People:
"I didn’t really want to do [Ben & Lauren], to be honest... I wanted to move on with our life and just have a moment that was just about us," revealed the 27-year-old.
She added:
"I was like, 'I can still do it.' There’s so much love there for one another. If I can get through The Bachelor, I can get through this no problem — at least we get to spend time together,' she told People. "But that was a really high-stress situation. I didn’t feel like I got the support that I needed when we were filming that — just from everyone."
It also didn't help that Bushnell had to face Fletcher during an episode of the series — because what's worse than spending a new relationship rehashing old ex issues?
"I felt like we were stuck in this place that happened seven months ago," the reality star told People. "I was trying to move forward from."
Bushnell admitted that she eventually went to personal counseling to deal with her feelings following the reality show, even when things with Higgins fell apart. While there's no right way to handle the aftermath of The Bachelor, so it sounds like the former couple did what they ultimately thought was best at the time.
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Sometimes things just don't work out — but in this case, it sounds like it taught Bushnell some important life lessons about going with your gut.