Bachelor Nation
What Happened to ’The Bachelorette’s Jillian Harris? Updates Ahead of Her Wedding Extravaganza
In 2009, Bachelor Nation got to know Jillian Harris as a contestant of Season 13 of The Bachelor with Jason Mesnick. After she finished in third place, she was named the lead for Season 5 of The Bachelorette that spring.
During the finale of her season, Harris got engaged to Ed Swiderski. But what happened to the couple and what is she up to now? Scroll down for updates.
Are Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski still together?
No, Harris and Swiderski ended their relationship in 2010 after about a year together. She had moved in with him in Chicago before the breakup.
Harris said the split was the “last thing” she wanted to do and told Us Weekly she “fought” for the relationship. “It’s terrible to leave because the other person doesn’t know what they want,” she admitted. “He’s not a bad guy. He’s just not quite ready to grow up.”
Before the breakup, there were rumors that Swiderski cheated on Harris with two ex-girlfriends, including one alleged instance where he reunited with a former flame after quitting The Bachelorette (he told Harris he was leaving for work, then returned a few weeks later). However, the former reality stars have not commented on these allegations.
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During a 2011 interview with A Drink With, Swiderski said he and Harris were still in contact. “We are finally coming to this agreement where we can talk on a regular basis and she’s fine with it,” he shared. “I don’t think she is happy with me being so OK with it all. I think it hurt her initially but she is OK now.”
Is Jillian Harris married?
Harris is set to marry her longtime love Justin Pasutto, a former professional snowboarder, on August 23, 2025. The two got engaged in 2016 and share two children (a son, Leo, born in 2016, and daughter, Annie, born in 2018). However, they’ve put off tying the knot for nearly a decade.
“Originally, we were going to get married in July 2020… but you know the rest of that story,” Harris shared on Instagram. “We attempted to have the wedding the following summer, but COVID was still a barrier. Then, we bought a farm, and just a few years later, in the summer of 2023, Kelowna experienced some wildfires. The fire ripped through our farm and destroyed our heritage barn and most of the property. So, @justinpasutto has spent the past two years restoring the property and getting it ready for the big day. I can’t wait to celebrate everything we have accomplished together with our friends and family! ”
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The wedding is set to be a “five-day” affair, with the couple saying their vows in a church before celebrating with an Italian rehearsal dinner at their home. The wedding reception will follow over the weekend.
What is Jillian Harris and Justin Pasutto’s age difference?
The couple has a nine-year age gap. Harris was 32 when she met Pasutto, who was 23 at the time, in 2012. They were in line at a bar when they first crossed paths.
“I was like, ‘Oh, he is cute! He’s 10 years younger than me,'” she recalled on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast. “I was like a black widow and this is my next victim. We started chitchatting and I could tell he was raised well.”
She continued, “When I met Justin, I found out he was 23, and I was 32. I was like, ‘What are we gonna do? I want to have babies and you’re not ready to have babies at 23. This is a disaster.’ We dated for a good four years. I was turning 36 and we talked about engagement a lot. We had a really rough relationship because of our age difference.”
Harris added, “We really struggled in our relationship and I think that’s why we [didn’t get] engaged [for a while], because we were both like, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to get through this.’ One day I said to him, ‘Honestly, I know you haven’t proposed yet, but do you think I’m going to be the one you’re going to have babies with?’ He was like, ‘Yes.’”
She ended up getting pregnant just before her 36th birthday and he proposed when their son was 9 months old.
What is Jillian Harris doing now?
After The Bachelorette, Harris combined her new career as a television personality with her love of design. She became a designer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in 2010 and hosted Canada’s Handyman Challenge in 2012. From 2013 to 2019, she was on Love It or List It Vancouver.
She created The Jilly Box, a subscription box with carefully curated products, and is also a cookbook author.
