Is Chris Harrison Single?
The Bachelor host has been divorced since 2012. What's his relationship status now?
Instagram The Bachelor and its spin-offs are supposed to be shows about making relationships happen. But one prominent personality from the Bachelor universe has had his marriage dissolve instead. In 2012, Chris Harrison and split from his wife of 18 years, Gwen Harrison.
Since they announced their divorce, there’s been a multitude of rumors about Chris’s love life. He’s been linked to different women over the years, but no one has gotten a final rose from him. He’s very discreet about keeping his personal life private, especially considering he shepherds reality stars through one of the most public courtships processed on television.
Is Chris Harrison single now? Read on for details.
1. Divorce
Gwen was Harrison's college sweetheart and he was pretty broke up when their marriage ended. He told E! News at the time that “It's been the most difficult part of my life."
"I keep a smile on my face because I have to, but Gwen and I, we've been together for 22 years, married for almost 19. So we grew up together and we have so much history…”
The pair not only had history, but they also have two children together as well. The kids were 7 and 9 at the time of the split and that made staying amicable a significant priority for both Chris and Gwen.
2. Not rushing
Right after he divorce, Chris contemplated jumping right back into the dating pool but ultimately thought the better of it.
"Once I got divorced there was this knee-jerk reaction to get back in the action and date. I think there's something wrong in that. I'm incredibly, stunningly happy. What gave me angst was relationships.”
Even once he did start looking for new love, he stuck to one person at a time, rather than trying to date a lot of people at once, Bachelor-style.
"I would love to say I'm that guy who sleeps around, but I'm just not. That's not my thing. I tried. I'm not good at it. It's exhausting.”
3. Dating at work
Harrison hasn’t always kept his work life and romantic life separate. He was linked to a former Bachelor contestant, Ashley Spivey. They went out at least once but it didn’t turn into anything significant, at least not according to Spivey.
“We texted a lot after that. I didn’t see him again until Ashley and JP’s wedding and he seemed kinda upset that I brought a date (who would later become my husband). Actually said to me, ‘Well you sure move on fast!'"
5. Bachelor?
The obvious question for Harrison is whether he would be willing to flip the script on his life and be The Bachelor for a season and try to find a relationship at long last. But when he was asked about that in 2015, he was unequivocally against it.
“No. In producing this and being behind the curtain for so long, you really do have a certain sense of naïveté and innocence to go into this and really let yourself go.”
He did jokingly consider whether his ex-wife would be a good Bachelorette, however, saying “Now, there’s an idea. There’s a part of me, the producer side, that knows it would be epic television, good or bad. It could be like the Hindenburg—the greatest disaster ever—but even then that would be great TV.”
5. Giving up
In the fall of 2018, Harrison told the world that he wasn’t even going to try to date anymore. He went on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show and said: “Having been married for as long as I was, and being a dad and raising two teenage kids, … that life experience definitely helps me, but watching the show and watching all of this unfold over 17 years has definitely made me a different man as far as love, romance, commitment, communication — a lot of aspects of relationships — it made me realize it’s next to impossible so I’ve quit."
"I’ve given up.”
6. One last try
But just months after proclaiming himself done with relationships, he was spotted on the red carpet with a gorgeous brunette. He and Lauren Zima were together at pre-Screen Actors Guild Awards party at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood.
Lauren is an editor at Entertainment Tonight and covers - you guessed it - The Bachelor. Maybe that show will bring Harrison a final rose after all.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.