Chris Harrison was secretly going through his divorce from his ex-wife, Gwen Harrison, in the midst of filming The Bachelorette.
“I vividly remember being in Thailand when I was in the midst of my divorce, but nobody knew,” Chris, 53, said on the Wednesday, June 25, episode of the “Sage Steele Show” podcast. “I was still texting about my divorce back and forth with my ex. At that time, it wasn’t going well.”
He added, “I remember, I was standing in this [room] because I always had to hide during rose ceremonies, so I could walk into camera, but I couldn’t walk from behind. … I was in this ancient ruin, [and] I had to stand by myself. I had an [earpiece], so they would cue me ’cause I couldn’t hear and often couldn’t see what was going on.”
While Chris was waiting to deliver his famous “this is the final rose” line, he would send messages about his divorce settlement. (Chris announced in 2012 that he and Gwen had separated after 18 years of marriage and raising their two children.)
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“We were going back and forth [and] I was standing in this ancient ruin, about to walk into a rose ceremony [to help] some girl — I think it was Ashley Rosenbaum — find love,” Chris continued on Wednesday’s episode. “I literally put my phone up, walk in, host The Bachelor [and] go back to texting and then sit down for an interview and talk to this girl about how great love is, [and] meanwhile, my life is kinda melting down.”
Chris was the longtime host of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad and Bachelor in Paradise until 2021 when he was let go amid controversy before former lead Jesse Palmer took over the mantle. During his longtime Bachelor Nation tenure, Chris presided over rose ceremonies and doled out words of wisdom to the stars. (Ashley, now 40, led the series in 2011, getting engaged in the finale to ex-husband J.P. Rosenbaum.)
According to Chris, he spent his backstage moments trying to figure out his next steps.
“[I was thinking about] when do I tell my kids, when am I going to make it public,” he recalled. “All this is going on, and it was so much to try to juggle.”
Chris ultimately tried to have a “this too shall pass” attitude about navigating his breakup.
“The good stuff and the bad stuff will pass. You know, the lowest of the lows will go by and this raging torrent will go by — and it’ll come down,” Chris said. “So will the good stuff. I had the No. 1 show on TV, that too shall pass also. Don’t get too high with the highs [and] don’t get too low with the lows. I think sports always taught me that.”
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“The good stuff and the bad stuff will pass. You know, the lowest of the lows will go by and this raging torrent will go by — and it’ll come down,” Chris said. “So will the good stuff. I had the No. 1 show on TV, that too shall pass also. Don’t get too high with the highs [and] don’t get too low with the lows. I think sports always taught me that.”
Chris and Gwen finalized their divorce later in 2012. He married TV journalist Lauren Zima in 2023.
“I want my kids to have a great example of love. I didn’t want them to go through a divorce, that sucks — and I know it sucks for them when they were 9 and 11 years old and going through that,” he told podcast host Sage Steele. “We made the best of it, and their mom did a great job being mom, as well. We did try to show them love separately. I am so excited to show them that their dad didn’t give up [and] that you can find love at any point in time in your life.”
