News

Ben Higgins shares addiction problems: The Bachelor star says painkiller addiction started before the show

Ben Higgins
Ben Higgins opens up about painkiller addiction. Pic credit: ABC

The Bachelor star Ben Higgins is releasing a book.

The former reality star is opening up about his life and he’s honest about everything, including life struggles that do not pertain to The Bachelor.

The book is published by Thomas Nelson and is available now.

The book is called, Alone in Plain Sight: Searching for Connection When You’re Seen but Not Known.

In the book, Ben opens up about his addiction problem, something he was struggling with long before he became The Bachelor and a reality star.

Ben Higgins opens up about addiction

Ben did an interview with Bachelor Nation, where he opened up about a sports injury that resulted in him starting with painkillers.

“I got hurt in high school playing football. I blew out my knee. My sports career ended. I felt like I had no identity. My dreams of going to play college sports had been shot. I had surgery. I got painkillers from that, so I started taking them. And then after that, I had another surgery done on my knee, so I got painkillers for that,” Ben explains to Bachelor Nation.

He reveals that he struggled with painkillers for nearly three years, adding that some of the stuff he was taking was not always prescribed to him.

“It ended up being a year and a half where I was either prescribed or semi-prescribed painkillers. I also took medicine that wasn’t prescribed. I went down some dark routes, taking and finding pills. The addiction went with me into my freshman year of college and then my sophomore year of college — where I got hurt again — so I had more access to painkillers. Altogether, my addiction lasted nearly three years.”

During the interview, Ben also reveals that one morning, he just had enough. He explains that he looked himself in the mirror after having stolen some pills from a friend of his the week prior.

He felt guilt for having to steal the pills, telling himself that this was not the kind of man he wanted to be.

“I asked for help. I started to receive support from loved ones, from professionals, and I set myself on a path to recovery,” Ben explains.

He reveals that he essentially quit cold turkey.

Ben Higgins is primarily known for sticking around Bachelor Nation

It has been years since Ben was on The Bachelor and he has since broken up with fiancee that he left the show with. He is now engaged to another woman and is planning a 2021 wedding.

But he’s still very much involved with The Bachelor. He continues to show up on seasons and he has a Bachelor-related podcast. He’s also vocal about Matt’s season.

Ben Higgins recently revealed that he didn’t think that Matt knew what was going on during the show, as he wasn’t investing time in the right relationship.

ABC added more women to his season during last week because of Matt’s record-breaking applications. This definitely stirred up the drama and gave Matt a challenge.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments