Ben Higgins & His New Girlfriend Are Now Instagram Official

It's been a few years since Ben Higgins was on The Bachelor looking for love, but now, it seems like he found it, and he didn't even need Chris Harrison's help this time. On Wednesday, Ben's new girlfriend, Jessica Clarke, made her debut on his Instagram, marking the first time that he showed fans who she is publicly, with the first official photo of the two of them together as a couple.

Being that Ben's been dropping hints here and there about his new relationship for awhile now, fans have been super curious about who the mystery woman might be, but now that the reveal is here, it seems like it was worth the wait — especially since this photo is such an adorable one. In the pic, Ben has his arm around Jessica and is looking down at her, smiling, while she grins at the camera. Seriously, it's too cute... and the caption is even better.

Ben wrote:

"I’ve been selfishly keeping this girl to myself for too long! Hey friends meet @jessclarke_! I successfully slid into her Dm’s a few months ago. I took a risk and I am glad I did. She is someone special, and I look forward to where life is going to take us. Stay tuned for the journey. In addition, this picture was taken this week in Honduras. I got to spend some time with an incredible group of people from all over the USA on a @generous_coffee_ adventure. Life is good!"

And on Jessica's Instagram page, she reposted the same picture (along with another), writing a caption about the fact that their relationship finally isn't a secret anymore.

"My secret boyfriend, Ben! He has one of the biggest hearts and kindest spirits, I got to share Honduras with him this past week and I’m excited for many more adventures!" she wrote.

Although this is the first time that Ben has actually identified who he's dating these days, it's definitely not the first time he's mentioned the fact that he's dating someone. In fact, he's spoken about the fact that he's in a relationship a few times in recent months, remaining as private as he could until he was ready to fill everyone in on all the details.

On his Almost Famous podcast in January, Ben admitted he was dating again, called her "the best, purest person I know," and said that they were in a long distance relationship. He said:

"We FaceTime a lot and it feels very similar because we don't get time together. It is very intentional. It is very focused. If we're gonna spend any time with each other, it's going to be in conversation."

After following Ben's journey from Kaitlyn Bristowe's season of The Bachelorette to The Bachelor and beyond, it's good to see this next chapter unfold, too. Now that he and Jessica have taken their relationship public, it'll be fun to follow along with their adventures. Now, there's only one question that needs to be answered: Does Chris Harrison approve?