Lauren Bushnell finally opened up about why things didn’t work out with Ben Higgins

Breakups are never easy — even when they’re mutual. Which is why our hearts ached when we found out The Bachelor’s Lauren Bushnell and Ben Higgens had broken up. Sure, they met on national television — but that doesn’t make the split any less sucky (in fact, one could reasonably argue that the intense public scrutiny made it all even worse).

And now, Lauren is telling her side of the story, and, man do we feel for her!

“I felt very alone,” she told People.com. “It was the weirdest thing. Looking back, I wish I could be like, ‘That’s why it didn’t work out’ — but I think it was just a very abnormal situation and one that unfortunately [didn’t work out]. I mean, we tried. We went to couples counseling. We continued that after the show and I went to personal counseling. I feel like we gave it everything we could, just at the end of the day, it didn’t feel right anymore.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQLvZioAnyq

This honestly makes total sense. As Lauren says, it was an “abnormal situation,” and one that undoubtedly put a ton of stress on a new relationship.

Lauren also revealed that she really didn’t want to film the show Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? (aka, the spinoff show about their relationship).

She said, “I didn’t really want to do it, to be honest. I wanted to move on with our life and just have a moment that was just about us. 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.’ 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.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI8soV0g7vv

Oy — this all just sounds incredibly stressful and like a non-ideal situation to build a new relationship. We hope both Lauren and Ben are doing okay and moving forward with life. We’ve all been through it — and can promise you guys that things WILL get better!