Jennifer Love Hewitt's Former Flame Dumped Her To Be On A Popular Dating Show

Beloved star Jennifer Love Hewitt has been happily married to her husband, Brian Hallisay, since 2013, with Hewitt sharing three kids with her fellow actor. The "Ghost Whisperer" star notably indulged in a handful of Hollywood romances before she found The One and tied the knot, though, with Hewitt even dating John Mayer back in the early 2000s. Somewhat more surprisingly, one of the Texas native's past flings was "Bachelor" star Ben Flajnik, who reportedly dumped the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" actor to front his own season of the long-running reality dating show.

Flajnik, who was a finalist on Season 7 of "The Bachelorette," opened up about his short-lived relationship with Hewitt on a February 2023 episode of the "She's All Bach" podcast. "We went on a number of dates, we hung out for a while," he confirmed, noting that the nineties icon had indeed asked him to pass up "The Bachelor" but, "Unfortunately, I had already signed the contract and the paperwork, so it was too late." Given the brief nature of their relationship, Flajnik wasn't too heartbroken. "We're dating for a couple weeks — I wasn't going to not do The Bachelor," he reasoned.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's unexpected connection with reality star Ben Flajnik actually started during his 2011 run on "The Bachelorette," when Flajnik competed for the love of leading lady Ashley Hebert. He was ultimately rejected in favor of J.P. Rosenbaum, leading Hewitt to take to X, formerly known as Twitter, to show her support for the fan-favorite runner-up and jokingly ask him to take her final rose instead. It seems that the "Party of Five" breakout didn't even have to fly out to Sonoma, where the winemaker is from, to meet him, because she was spotted with Flajnik at the Lion's Pub in San Francisco just a few days later. 

A source revealed to Us Weekly that Ben was initially there with Giants player Cody Ross, which lines up with the comments that Hewitt made on Ryan Seacrest's radio show. "We did meet, but totally by coincidence," she clarified, lightheartedly complaining that her tweet, jokingly professing that she wanted to travel to Sonoma to meet him, was taken completely out of context. Flajnik ultimately proposed to contestant Courtney Robertson. 

While speaking to People in December 2011, the reality star expressed confidence that he'd made the right call by choosing the show over Hewitt, admitting, "When this is all said and done, ending up with a Hollywood celebrity is not something that I want." They've both moved on to other partners in the time since, with the former "Bachelor" lead even tying the knot with a (non-famous) woman named Christina in October 2023.