- "Bachelor" star
Ben Higgins and his fiancée Jessica Clarke are abstaining fromsex beforemarriage . - Higgins told Insider he and Clarke also won't move in together until they say "I do."
- The couple got engaged in March 2020, but had to postpone their wedding for a year due to COVID-19.
The pandemic has felt like it's lasted an eternity to most of us, but it's felt especially long for former "Bachelor" star Ben Higgins and his fiancée, Jessica Clarke.
Higgins told Insider that he and Clarke have stuck to their decision to abstain from sex before marriage, even after COVID-19 forced them to push their wedding back by an entire year.
The couple have yet to sleep in the same bed, and they won't live together until they exchange vows.
"It's something we decided to do early on in our relationship," Higgins said. "We knew this relationship was going in the direction to be together forever, and we were like, 'Let's hold some things for marriage that we can look forward to."'
Higgins proposed to Clarke in March 2020, just as lockdowns were spreading across the US. The couple originally planned to tie the knot in November, but had to push their wedding back a year as the pandemic raged on.
"We never imagined COVID to hit, we never imagined our wedding to be pushed back another year, so it's almost a lasting joke with Jess and I," Higgins said. "We had this grand plan and it gets switched on its head, and now we're waiting another year to make this commitment to each other."
But despite the delay, Higgins said he and Clarke have no plans to back down on their decision to abstain - or to cancel their wedding.
"We talked it through and we stuck with it," he said. "It's a commitment we made to each other and, no matter how long the wedding gets pushed back, that's something we're still going to try to do."
"But yeah it's not easy," he added. "And it's not ideal for either of us."
Higgins has previously opened up about his decision to abstain from sex before marriage
The couple dated long-distance for two years before Clarke moved to Colorado from Nashville in December to be closer to her future husband.
Clarke is staying at the house that she and Higgins will share one day, but Higgins said he has no plans to move in until the couple say "I do."
"It doesn't get easier or more fun, but I do know I'm looking forward to the day I move in with her," he said. "And that's special to me, and I have that to look forward to."
Higgins - who met Clarke after sliding into her DMs on Instagram - first revealed that he and his fiancée were abstaining from sex before marriage during an appearance on fellow "Bachelor" star Nick Viall's podcast "The Viall Files" in April 2020.
The interview made headlines, and Higgins later revealed that Clarke's father broached the subject with him.
"I think it was her dad that brought it up that said that some guy at work came up to him and mentioned the headline and I was like, 'Oh, I'm so sorry!''' Higgins told Us Weekly in May 2020. "And then her dad felt bad about bringing it up, thinking he made it awkward, which was really nice and sweet of him. But it just opened us up to talk about it, which was actually great."
As for the big wedding day, Higgins said that many "Bachelor" alums are on the guest list, including Viall, Becca Kufrin, and Ashley Iaconetti.
Becca Tilley, who appeared on Higgins' season of "
"She's going to be there," he told HollywoodLife in April. "She's been incredible to my fiancée as Jess has sort of walked this world with 'The Bachelor' and had to hear about it."