Chris Harrison has revealed a dark time when he was texting his now ex-wife Gwen Harrison amid their divorce while filming a Rose Ceremony on The Bachelorette.
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Chris, the former host of The Bachelor franchise, opened up about how he was secretly going through his divorce with Gwen when he needed to be professional on the set of The Bachelorette.
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"I vividly remember being in Thailand -- or somewhere in Asia, I think it was Thailand -- when I was in the midst of my divorce, but nobody knew," Chris, 53, shared during a recent appearance on the "Sage Steele Show" podcast.
"I was still texting about the divorce back and forth with my ex. And it was really [contentious]. At that time, it wasn't going well."
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Chris publicly announced his split from Gwen in May 2012 after 18 years of marriage and two children.
"I remember... I always had to hide during Rose Ceremonies so I could walk into camera... and kind of come into frame. So I always had to hide, and I was in this ancient ruin. I had to stand by myself and I had an [earpiece], so they would cue me because I couldn't hear and I often couldn't see what was going on," Chris recalled.
Chris reminded fans how part of his job was to walk into a Rose Ceremony and say, "This is the final rose tonight," or something along those lines.
"And I was texting my ex and we were going back and forth," Chris said.
"I was standing in this ancient ruin, about to walk into a Rose Ceremony to help some girl -- I think it was Ashley Hebert -- find love. And in the middle of texting, they were like, 'Harrison, cue!'"
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(Ashley helmed The Bachelorette in 2011, and she got engaged to her winner, J.P. Rosenbaum, during the show's finale. The pair later married and divorced).
Chris said in order to film the Rose Ceremony, he had to put his phone down and walk onto the set as if nothing had happened in his personal life.
"[I had to] 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 how it's wonderful and, 'You need to find the love of your life,'" Chris recalled with a laugh.
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Meanwhile, Chris admitted his own love life had gone up in flames and was "kind of melting down" at that point.
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"[I was thinking], 'When do I tell my kids? When am I going to make it public?" Chris disclosed. "All this is going on, and it was so much to try to juggle."
Chris, however, said he managed to maintain a "this too shall pass" attitude about 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 calm down," Chris explained.
"But so will the good stuff. I had the No. 1 show on TV, that too shall pass also. So, you know, 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 said it's important to take the good with the bad and "just keep working all the same" -- even if it's "an ass-kicking" experience like what he had gone through.
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Chris and Gwen ultimately finalized their divorce later in 2012.
Chris eventually moved on with TV journalist Lauren Zima, and they tied the knot in October 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 nine and 11 years old and going through that," Chris told the podcast's 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."
Chris concluded, "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."
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Chris was the longtime host of The Bachelor franchise until he and ABC parted ways over a controversy that unfolded during The Bachelor's 25th season in 2021.
Chris had intended to take a leave of absence and eventually come back to the show, but after multiple Bachelor Nation alums filled in for him as host for Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelorette, Jesse Palmer officially replaced him in early 2022 ahead of The Bachelor's 26th season starring Clayton Echard.
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