Chris Harrison has been hosting ABC‘s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette for 18 years, and he says that the experience, instead of souring him on family life, has made him a better person.

The 48-year-old told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour: “Everybody understands companionship, wants it, gets it, no matter what it looks like. And so I think I’m a better listener. I think I’m a better dad. I am much less of a black-and-white guy. And I think maybe when you’re younger, you’re a lot more like ‘my way or the highway’ when you’re a dad or even in a relationship. And life’s not so black and white.”

He added that his perception of good guy / bad guy has shifted as well: “There’s a big gray area. And I think when you quote-unquote, run into the villains, say a Chad [Johnson] or someone like that… People are so quick to just crush these people and go after them. And my thing is, what makes him tick? Why is he the way he is? What is it in his life? What is it with his family and his mom, and [what is it] that makes him want to blow relationships up?”

Harrison continued: “As I’ve gotten older and I’ve lived through my own life experiences and obviously they’ve seen me host, and word has gotten around throughout the [Bachelor] family that I am someone to be trusted and someone to be leaned on.”

He went on: “And I have never thrown anybody under the bus or backed the bus over anybody that didn’t deserve it. And so I think I’ve earned the spot of being the friend and the confidant. And so now it’s probably 75/25 [percent] of being that friend and the confidant. And then 25 percent is probably hosting and producing the show.”

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