Instagram / Ben Higgins

'The Bachelor' alum Ben Higgins and wife Jessica Clarke expecting second child

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 07/08/2026

Former The Bachelor star Ben Higgins and his wife Jessica Clarke have another baby on the way.

Ben, 37, and Jessica, 31, announced they are expecting their second baby together via Instagram.

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Ben posted two photos of his daughter, Winona "Winnie" Elane, 17 months, as well as one picture of his beloved dog Waylon on Sunday, July 5.

One picture of Winona featured her holding a doll upside down, and the other was a close-up photo of her face.

"The world is blessed because [Jess] is becoming a mother of two girls and Winona is so excited about becoming a big sister!" Ben captioned the images.

"Waylon still carries the pressure of carrying on the Higgins name and I personally am overwhelmed with joy to be experiencing it all!"

Ben added that "Higgins girl number 2" is "coming towards [the] end" of this year.

The Bachelorette alum concluded, "In the words of Jessica's grandma 'when you do certain things, certain things happen.'"

Jess, for her part, posted a family photo on her own Instagram account.

"Baby girl #2 is making her debut this holiday season," Jess captioned the photos featuring Ben and her daughter near the water.

Ben and Jessica welcomed Winona in February 2025.

"[Baby] girl Higgins has entered the world. She is healthy. @jessclarke_ is doing so well," Ben wrote on Instagram at the time.

"I don't yet have words for what just happened but the update right now is we have a daughter and Jess is recovering so well. The nurses and doctors who cared for us should be lifted high."

The podcast host added, "Also I am biased but God spent a little more time on our baby girl because she's real beautiful! This beauty will be revealed soon but first she needs a bath."

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Ben later shared how he fell even more in love with Jess for delivering their baby.

"After the last 48 hours my heart has exploded for her and our new baby girl," Ben gushed at the time, adding how "Winnie" was born at 2:53AM on February 12.

He continued, "For the last 2 mornings I wake up feeling like it was a dream, reminding myself of the blessings of Jesus, then looking over to see Jessica and Winona and being mentally reunited with the truth that I am a dad and a husband and that we are a family."

Ben and Jessica announced they were expecting their first child together in August 2024.

"The next chapter of our love story! Baby girl coming in February," Ben and Jessica captioned a joint Instagram post at the time.

The video, set to "On My Way to You" by Cody Johnson, captured major highlights from Ben and Jessica's relationship over the years -- including the couple's engagement, wedding, and the welcoming of a puppy into their lives.

Footage then flashed to Jessica giving herself a shot in the stomach, seemingly revealing that she and Ben had gone through the IVF process to conceive their first baby.

Ben and Jessica met on social media and went Instagram official in January 2019. They got engaged in March 2020.

Ben and Jess purchased their first home together in Denver, CO, in December 2020, and the couple got married in a romantic Tennessee wedding in November 2021. (Ben and Jess initially planned to wed in 2020, but they pushed back their nuptials to the following year due to the coronavirus pandemic).

Ben previously revealed in June 2020 that he and Jessica would love to have two kids and possibly adopt one of them.

"[Jess] comes from a family of three siblings in total, and I am an only child. I would love to have two kids," Ben told Us Weekly at the time.

"And when I say 'two kids,' I don't know what that looks like. Jess and I are very interested in adopting. I definitely am excited about the idea of adopting... It would be such a gift to our family I think to do that."

Ben continued, "So if that means that we have two adopted kids, if that means we have three adopted kids, if that means we have kids that are biologically ours, I don't know yet. But we definitely want a family."

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Ben admitted, however, that he doesn't want to have "a massive family."

"I am a pretty big introvert and I really do enjoy my time alone. In a huge family of chaos, it kind of makes me anxious. But I do want our kids to have siblings, if possible, to grow up in this world with," Ben shared.

As far as adopting kids goes, Ben said he loves to experience and celebrate different cultures and so raising children from different backgrounds would be a blessing.

"How cool would it be if we have a family of all different cultures coming together to celebrate each other?" Ben suggested. "That is heaven to me. That sounds awesome."

Ben had selected former flight attendant Lauren Bushnell as his The Bachelor winner and the pair got engaged on the show's Season 20 finale that aired in March 2016.

After The Bachelor wrapped, the pair starred on Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?, but they announced their split in May 2017, about six months after the spinoff's finale aired on Freeform.

"I think doing that show was a mistake for our relationship. It was not a mistake professionally, necessarily, but it was a mistake for our romantic relationship," Ben told The Bachelorette alum Jason Tartick on a September 2024 episode of his "Trading Secrets" podcast.

Ben elaborated how his priorities were "misaligned at the time," adding, "I was young and naive. I thought we could get through [it]."

Ben recalled being more like "working partners" than lovers with Lauren while filming Happily Ever After?. He also said their communication stopped for months and they were in "survival mode."

Ben insisted that while Happily Ever After? portrayed him as having cold feet prior to his wedding, he was actually just having doubts about whether he and Lauren were truly meant to be.

Ben said his split from Lauren was ultimately a mutual decision. Lauren went on to marry and have children with country singer Chris Lane.

After hearing Lauren reveal that love felt different with Ben, Ben said Lauren "should've gone home" and quit The Bachelor if she wasn't sure about him or serious about their relationship and future together.

"That show was really real for me... I invested, personally, a lot of effort into trying to figure out if it was the path that was going to help me find my partner or not," noted Ben, who also had a brief stint on The Bachelor Winter Games in 2018.