Back in 2021, Bachelor Nation was rocked by a racism scandal that altered the course of several people’s lives and the franchise as a whole. One of those people was Chris Harrison, who had served as the host of The Bachelor (and all spinoffs) since its 2002 inception, as he was let go by ABC. Harrison has since moved on to other projects, and he opened up about the two things that really helped him to do that.
Jesse Palmer took over in fall 2021 as franchise host — including for The Golden Bachelor, whose second season is currently airing on the 2025 TV schedule. Meanwhile, several things have changed for Chris Harrison over the past four years, and not just his job title. When asked how it feels to no longer be with the franchise, he told People:
It feels wonderful, and thanks for asking that, because I wasn’t sure it would.
By his own account, it didn’t at first. Chris Harrison discussed the situation at length when he launched The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever, revealing that he lost 20 pounds during the ordeal and couldn’t sleep. After he got some distance from it, he was able to see how stressful the job had been, as he said:
You know, when you do something every single day for two decades, and it’s so popular around the world, there is a pressure to that, and there’s a spotlight and a microscope that you don’t even realize you’re under until you kinda get off that merry-go-round.
Chris Harrison said not having that high-pressure job was tough for him. However, he apparently realized his life didn’t have to continue down the same path, and he credits a couple of different things for that. In his words:
And it was this kind of angst when I first got off, because I mean, ‘Oh, well, I gotta get back on. I gotta go back to work,’ or… And then I kind of took a deep breath and you dropped your shoulders, and I think, you know, obviously falling in love definitely helped, moving to Austin definitely helped kind of relieve that and realize, ‘Wow, there’s a whole other world out here to dive into.’ And so it has been a wonderful break and relief.
Chris Harrison and Lauren Zima started dating in August 2018, so they’d been together for a while when The Bachelor scandal went down. She stuck by him, though, and the two got engaged in October 2021, just months after Harrison parted ways with ABC. They made it official two years later, tying the knot in October 2023.
The former Bachelor host also said adding his name to the list of celebrities who don’t live in Los Angeles helped, as he returned to his home state of Texas, with he and his wife now residing in Austin.
Bachelor Nation certainly went through trying times in 2021, but it’s good to hear that Chris Harrison has come out on the other side of it. Hopefully the same can be said for everyone else who was involved as well.
You won’t see Chris Harrison on The Golden Bachelor (or any other Bachelor series), but if you want to keep up with the current happenings anyway, tune in at 9 p.m. ET Wednesdays on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.