Ben Higgins Reveals the 'Learning Curve' He and Jessica Clarke Have Had 9 Months Into Marriage (Exclusive)

Jessica Clarke and Ben Higgins
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ET spoke to the former Bachelor ahead of his appearance on E!'s 'Celebrity Beef' with Nick Viall.

Ben Higgins is opening up about married life! ET spoke with the 33-year-old former Bachelor as he approaches nine months of wedded bliss with Jessica Clarke, and he revealed the major learning he and his wife have faced since exchanging vows.

"It feels wild that it's nine months. It's been really fun. We're having a really good time," he gushed. "It takes a learning curve of figuring out what everybody's life wants to look like, and what the dreams are, and how you best support your partner." 

One thing that both Higgins and Clarke are "figuring out" is what to do "when your partner doesn't want you around." 

"She comes home from work, she's tired or I have a day that I'm just not in the mood to talk to anybody. How do you handle that emotionally?" he questioned. "At first it rocks your world. Over time, you're like, 'No, this is best. I know they love me and I know they want to be by me. They're just not their best version of themselves right now.'" 

Even as they work to adjust to married life, Higgins told ET that he and Clarke are "having a lot of fun learning about each other, figuring each other out." 

"It's going really well," he said. "I see it being a very successful marriage."

ET spoke with Higgins and fellow Bachelor Nation star Nick Viall ahead of their appearance on E!'s Celebrity Beef. On their episode of the Joel McHale-hosted series, the men try to settle once and for all who the better Bachelor was in the only way they know how -- by cooking up sausage as McHale tells countless, erm, sausage jokes.

"I just giggled a lot," Higgins said of filming the episode. "I mean, it was just a lot of sausage jokes. They never stopped."

The whole experience, Higgins said, was "really fun," especially since they were both playing to win money for charity; Higgins supported Project Hope, while Viall played for End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin.

"It's an international healthcare non-profit that does a lot of work building hospitals and healthcare clinics in areas of the world that are either struck by disaster or are infiltrated with some unfortunate disease," Higgins said of Project Hope. "... Project Hope is a large nonprofit, so I'm learning a lot from being able to be a part of it."

While fans will have to tune in to the Tuesday episode to see who comes out victorious, no matter the result, both Viall and Higgins said they're ready to put their so-called beef to bed.

"I was married when the show was filmed and Nick's in a very committed relationship," Higgins said of Viall's two-year-long romance with Natalie Joy. "So, for the two of us, it matters who's the better Bachelor, like, it's important for our egos, I guess, but it doesn't matter that much."

"Nick and I, I think to our credit, have been able to do uniquely different things, but similar in some way, post-show, that aren't still directly riding the wave of the show. It isn't dependent on us making more appearances, but it's our own little worlds that we've been able to work on," he added. "It doesn't just come to you. It doesn't just lay in your lap. You have to make something of it. So I would just say, 'Hey, success stories.' We can celebrate that."

Higgins and Viall's episode of Celebrity Beef will air Tuesday at 10 p.m. on E!

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