Former “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison is “grateful that I’m gone” from the series, according to a new interview he did on Jason Tartick’s “Trading Secrets” podcast Thursday.
“I still look at this as a blessing in my life. It was hard at first. Obviously, it wasn’t immediate that I felt great about everything, because what I went through was tumultuous,” Harrison said on the show. “I don’t wish it on anybody. It was horrifying on a lot of levels and something that I pray to God my worst enemy never goes through. But, with that said, I knew I had to remove myself from what became a very toxic situation.”
Harrison stepped away from the “Bachelor” series in 2021 after defending contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who faced criticism after attending an “Old South” ball in 2018. After receiving a slew of media backlash for his comments, Harrison announced that he was stepping back from the show, and in June it was announced that he had left the franchise completely.
The former went on to call his exit from the show a “blessing” as things had become “toxic” towards the end of his tenure. “We all could have figured it out, but I had to remove myself from that toxic situation,” he said. “And so I’m proud of that decision. I’m proud that I handled it the way I did and I still look at [the show] as a blessing because it changed my life on so many levels.”
“Financially, of course. It changed my life,” Harrison went on. “It changed my kids’ lives…but at the same time I can also be grateful that I’m gone. That’s a relationship I don’t need to be in anymore because it wasn’t healthy.”
This is not the first time Harrison has talked about leaving “The Bachelor.” In January of 2023 Harrison gave his first interview, on his own podcast “The Most Dramatic Podcast … Ever,” about leaving the dating series and how difficult it was for him. “For my part in this, I was sick to my stomach. I lost 20 pounds. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I was scared to death not of my job but of my family – my fiancé, my kids. I’m a bit of an empath and I am very loyal to a fault and I am a team player.”
Back in 2021, Harrison received around $9 million as part of a settlement with ABC, with the rest of his exit package coming from remaining contractual fees.
