Why Ben Higgins Compared Kaitlyn Bristowe's Love Life to Taylor Swift (2025)

Ben Higgins is weighing in on the recent drama surrounding Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick.

“It feels like we’ve talked about this topic so often,” Higgins, 36, said during the Thursday April 10, episode of his “Almost Famous” podcast. “There’s an element here, as we talked about last week, that controversy seems to bring conversation, and controversy seems to keep some type of relevance. It doesn’t really feel like the healthiest path.”

The former Bachelor star noted that the aftermath of Bristowe, 39, and Tartick’s August 2023 breakup “has lasted so much longer” than her other public split from Shawn Booth.

“I thought that thing lasted forever,” Higgins quipped, alluding to the back and forth between Bristowe and Booth, 37, following their November 2018 breakup.

“There is something about Kaitlyn Bristowe’s relationships that once they go public and once they end — I told [my wife] Jess [Clarke] this the other day — it kind of reminds me of the Taylor Swift effect, where it’s like they’re always kind of there,” he added. “They’re always kind of like the ghost of the past. … It’s like they never fully remove themselves from the situation. And it feels like that way with Kaitlyn.”

Podcast cohost Ashley Iaconetti praised Higgins for his “good analogy.”

Their conversation came after Bristowe further discussed her breakup from Tartick, 36, during a recent tell-all episode of her “Off the Vine” podcast.

She discussed attempting to block him from starting the “Trading Secrets” podcast when they were together and made a wild claim about the name of Tartick’s new dog. Bristowe alleged that Tartick stole her “dream baby name,” Teddy, for the dog he adopted last month. (Tartick has yet to publicly address her claims.)

After the podcast episode aired, Bristowe took to her “Off the Vine” Facebook group with an apology about continuing to discuss her four-year relationship with Tartick.

“I take accountability for wanting to hold someone back from podcasting. I knew deep down this was a me problem, AND I also knew it would start a crossover that would be hard in a relationship,” she wrote. “What I thought would happen, did. I clearly didn’t leave when he did it anyways. I did more therapy around [it]. It was just a boundary I made clear that was crossed and I tried to work through it but there was so much more than that. Again. I see how it could seem unfair.”

Bristowe added, “Yes Teddy is a common dog name. Yes he can name his dog whatever he wants. AND it’s f***ed up that he knew it was my dream baby name. We talked about it for years.”

The former Bachelorette star admitted to having “major things to work on in relationships” going forward.

“I have seen tremendous growth in myself,” Bristowe shared. “I’m so proud of who I am today. My timeline of processing and being who I am doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s standard for a timeline.”