The Bachelor alum Lauren Bushnell has shed new light on why she and Ben Higgins broke up after getting engaged on The Bachelor's 20th season.

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Lauren, who accepted a marriage proposal from Ben on The Bachelor before they split and called off their engagement over a year later in May 2017, explained that she and Ben just weren't a great match.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

"I think we shared a lot of the same core values, but personality-wise, I don't think we were super compatible," Lauren told The New York Post's Page Six.

After The Bachelor 20 aired in 2016, Lauren and Ben -- who was thinking of pursuing a career in politics at the time -- jumped into filming a The Bachelor spinoff, Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?, which aired on ABC's Freeform sister network.

Lauren admitted she doesn't "think it was the best idea" to appear on Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? because she "was definitely still processing a lot of what happened," especially since Ben had professed his love to his runner-up JoJo Fletcher on The Bachelor.

While fans probably assume the fame and the reality show led to the demise of Lauren and Ben's romance, Lauren confirmed the cameras didn't actually play a role in their split.

"I don't even think it had anything to do with the show or the spotlight or anything like that," Lauren told Page Six.

"Also, I was young," added the former flight attendant, who was 25 years old when she competed on Ben's The Bachelor season. "I think I needed to do a lot of reflecting on myself, and I had a lot of growing to do."

However, Lauren insisted there are no hard feelings between Ben and herself.

"I feel like our conversations, which are obviously few and far between, have always been very cordial and nice," Lauren shared.

"I don't think either of us have ever wished the other person ill will at all. I've had relationships that ended that did not end well and didn't have that same level of respect we have for each other."

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In June 2018, Lauren told Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone on his podcast there was not "one main reason" for the fallout with Ben.

"It wasn't this bad blood situation or blow-up fight -- it's nothing I can really pinpoint," Lauren said at the time.

And Ben shared his side of the story in June 2020, explaining to Entertainment Tonight, "I do think Lauren and I very early on were just trying so hard to make it work that it was just pulling pieces of us all the time."

It was widely believed Ben and Lauren were truly in love, especially considering Lauren had moved from the home she loved in California to be with Ben in Denver, CO, and they were in the beginning stages of planning a wedding as shown on Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?.

But reports swirled before their split that Ben and Lauren were constantly fighting and Lauren was unhappy with her lack of career, life in Denver in general, and the fact Ben had said "I love you" to JoJo before the Final Rose Ceremony.

"I don't think we wanted to make it work, because I think internally we knew just how unhealthy it probably was to continue to go on," Ben explained at the time.

"We were just looking for an out, but trying our best to make it last as long as we could to see if maybe we found the secret sauce. At some point, we never did."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

Once Lauren and Ben were engaged and dating in the real world, she also couldn't escape the past given JoJo went on to star on The Bachelorette's twelfth season and often discussed her failed relationship with Ben.

"I do remember those moments of trying to explain myself or thinking, 'Hey, this is all good. We're gonna watch this back because you know I chose you, and this is going to be fine.' It wasn't. It wasn't at all," Ben admitted. "It hurt deeply and I know it did."

Back on a 2017 episode of "The Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast," Ben told his co-host Ashley Iaconetti how life with Lauren became increasingly more "difficult" after The Bachelor.

"I would say the joy that we felt toward our relationship at the beginning was, for some reason, slipping away, and we were both working very hard to bring that joy back," Ben disclosed at the time.

"And it just never seemed to get there. So, it was a long time coming, but it wasn't necessarily like we dragged it out."

However, both Lauren and Ben have moved on and are now happily married to other people.

Lauren tied the knot with country singer Chris Lane in October 2019, and then the pair welcomed their son Dutton Walker Lane in June 2021.

Ben, who also appeared on The Bachelor Winter Games, is now married to Jessica Clarke, a woman he met outside of Bachelor Nation. They wed in November 2021 and recently got a dog together and have discussed starting a family in the near future.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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