As Bachelor Nation fans recall, in early 2021, as Matt James’ season of “The Bachelor” was coming to a close, his girlfriend Rachael Kirkconnell’s past racist social media activity surfaced.

Former host Chris Harrison defended the finalist during a February 2021 “Extra” interview with Season 13 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay.

Chris eventually announced he would be stepping back from the franchise, and while the women of Season 25 of “The Bachelor” had Rachel Lindsay’s back, sharing posts denouncing any defense of racism, Rachel still received intense waves of backlash from fans saying she was responsible for Chris stepping down.

Now, former Bachelor Ben Higgins stopped by the “Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation” podcast, where he discussed reaching out to Rachel amid the drama.

Ben talked to co-hosts Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo, who also happens to be Rachel’s husband, about why he decided to reach out to Rachel.

Ben said, “I called and texted Rachel. I remember that time when all that news was coming out, and Chris Harrison is a good friend of mine. I will never say I don’t like Chris, but I also felt like there were two people involved here.”

The former Bachelor added, “I knew there was another person who was probably really hurting in this, and because we had both been leads, I thought maybe if she wanted to, I could talk to her and tell her that I hear her and I’m sorry this was happening to her.”

Ben explained that he wanted to talk to Rachel about where she was coming from and what she hopes comes from this.

He said he didn’t want to make any assumptions about the situation and took it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

“My hope in life is to try to understand. I might not always agree, but I can at least understand and open up that door,” Ben said.

Bryan thanked Ben for reaching out to Rachel during that extremely difficult time. As many fans know, Rachel even temporarily deactivated her social media accounts due to the amount of backlash she was receiving.

Bryan told Ben, “I just want to tell you that I appreciated that from you a lot, man. You reached out when she was going through it. It was just good to hear from somebody that was being genuine and trying to genuinely be an ally in that situation. Listen, you want to learn, and that’s one thing we all can do and all we can ask for.”

To hear more of Ben’s conversation with Mike and Bryan on the “Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation” podcast, check out the full episode below.