Former star of The Bachelor Andy Baldwin and his girlfriend Marla Maples have called it quits, he has confirmed to Us Weekly.

Baldwin’s recent move to Washington, D.C. to take a job as an advocate for Navy Medicine put a strain on their relationship.

“The big move coupled with the long distance relationship wasn’t working for us so I decided we were better off as friends,” Baldwin says.

He first broke the news to the Washington Post.

“We were friends, it got romantic for a little while, but we’re just friends,” he told the nation’s capital’s newspaper.

Andy Baldwin and Marla Maples met last year and spent New Year’s together. They recently celebrated Easter in Hawaii.

“He’s just a good soul,” Maples said in April. “He’s a complete gentleman.”

Andy Baldwin was briefly engaged to Tessa Horst, who won the final rose on The Bachelor. That didn’t last long.

Former Bachelor star Andy Baldwin and Marla Maples — a.k.a. the former Mrs. Donald Trump — have a “blooming romance,” the Naval officer says.

“We met (last year) and I found her to be very sweet, positive,” he said of the 44-year-old Maples. “She’s polite, respectful and has a great heart.”

Although the two were spotted together in New York City over the holiday season — prompting rumors of romance — Baldwin said they didn’t really get it on until February, when he returned home from an overseas military mission.

Baldwin is in the process of relocating from Hawaii to Washington, D.C. for a new job assignment. He’s currently vacationing in Los Angeles, where he’s been logging quality time with the California-based Marla Maples.

The two have been spotted frolicking on the beach and arriving arm-in-arm at Monday’s taping of another reality show hit, Dancing with the Stars.

Marla Maples and Andy Baldwin: One hot reality TV couple.

“It takes someone special for me to spend time away from my daughter (14-year-old Tiffany), because she’s my priority,” Maples said.

“There’s a lot of sweet, cute people in the world, but it’s what’s in here,” Maples said, gesturing to Baldwin’s heart, “that counts.”

So is the age difference an obstacle?

“She has the mind, body and energy of a 25-year-old,” insisted Baldwin. “When you have a connection with someone, age goes out the window.”

As for social worker Tessa Horst — to whom he proposed on The Bachelor tenth season finale — they called it quits last September.

“I definitely care for her a great deal,” said Baldwin, who keeps in touch. “I have no regrets about that experience or the relationship that we had.”

Tessa Horst is rolling in her grave.

Okay, so she’s not actually deceased. But she might wish she were if she saw the picture of Marla Maples and Andy Baldwin posted below …

NAUSEATINGLY HAPPY: Andy Baldwin and Marla Maples.

The two (31 and 44) aren’t letting an age gap hold them back: the two had a fun time in Laguna Beach, frolicking and making out on the rocks.

“He is the most compassionate man I’ve ever met,” Maples tells Us Weekly.

Maples and the former star of The Bachelor also played with a beach ball.

“He’s just a good soul,” Maples, an ex-wife of The Apprentice star Donald Trump, told Us Weekly. “He’s an absolute, complete gentleman.”

Their new relationship is usually long-distance since Andy Baldwin, a naval doctor, is stationed in Hawaii, where the two took a romantic getaway.

“They’re moving him to D.C. soon,” Maples said, ecstatically. “He still has four more years in military!”

The former star of The Bachelor, Andy Baldwin, didn’t need the hit ABC show to find his future mate. Well, none of the Bachelor stars seem to.

Since returning from a military mission in Palau, the naval doctor, 31, has been “quietly dating” Donald Trump’s ex, Marla Maples, 44.

The two took a romantic getaway to the Hawaiian island of Lanai over Easter weekend, an inside source tells Us Weekly.

Andy Baldwin and girlfriend Marla Maples.

“On Easter morning, Andy and Marla helped kids at [the Four Seasons Hotel] search for Easter eggs and they had a great time,” the source says.

They first met last year, says the source, and even spent New Year’s together. Adds the insider, “He is inspired by her.”

What’s next, Tessa Horst dating Donald Trump?

It was widely reported that former star of The Bachelor, US Navy Lt. Andy Baldwin, was doing his patriotic duty by fighting in Iraq.

But it turns out it’s not true - instead, Andy Baldwin was in the South Pacific! No, not competing on Survivor, people. Get real.

TMZ reports that the ex-fiance of Tessa Horst was part of a recovery team doing an underwater excavation of a B-24J bomber that went down in WWII.

That’s code for a government sponsored scuba vacation!

Too bad Matt Grant and his babes couldn’t tag along.

Here’s a photo of Andy Baldwin shirtless … and hot!

Former Bachelor star Andy Baldwin was shipped off to the Middle East last night.

A Navy doctor, Baldwin is scheduled to spend the next few months in the Middle East before returning to his naval duties in Hawaii in late March.

From there, an source said, Andy is being transferred to Washington, D.C., where he will represent the Navy in legislative matters.

“Andy is proud to serve his country,” the insider added. “His life as a celebrity comes second to his dedication to the Navy.”

But what about Andy’s rumored romance with Donald Trump’s ex-wife Marla Maples? It’s supposedly heating up. According to an insider, Marla promised Andy that she will “wait for him” until his tour of duty is over.

“They have great chemistry. It could lead to marriage.”

While Brad Womack is receiving flak for his indecisiveness - and Byron Velvick is receiving stitches from the wound inflicted on him by fiancee Mary Delgado - Andy Baldwin is simply thinking about looking good.

Check out this former Bachelor, ladies. He’s not wearing a shirt.

Don’t you just wanna kill Tessa Horst?

Andy Baldwin was affectionate with 25 women on The Bachelor. But it was Miss Iran 2005, Sepideh Haftgoli, that could have landed the hunk in hot water with former fiancee and Bachelor winner Tessa Horst.

“We’re just friends,” explained Andy Baldwin about his relationship with Sepideh Haftgoli in Us Weekly. “I’m just an affectionate guy, and we were on our way to catch up with friends. There’s nothing going on.”

Photos of The Bachelor star hanging out with Haftgoli in a park on September 9 - different versions of which were posted on several celebrity news websites - show the pair engaging in behavior that looks hardly platonic.

Andy Baldwin’s babes: Sepideh Haftgoli (left) and Tessa Horst.

While some photos just show Andy Baldwin and Sepideh Haftgoli enjoying the outdoors together, others appear to show the two repeatedly hugging, snuggling, and engaging in what could be described as potentially flirty behavior.

But Andy Baldwin told Us Weekly that he and Sepideh Haftgoli have been friends for three years after they met through a mutual friend.

“We were just hanging out and enjoying the day,” he said. “[Tessa Horst] and I were together all weekend.”

Haftgoli, a 26-year-old former Miss Iran, who has previously dated former Friends star David Schwimmer, supported Baldwin’s side of the story.

“They were innocent photos and innocent hugs,” she said.

Last month, Baldwin and Horst had announced they had decided to end their engagement but said they were still “very much in love” and “committed.”

We don’t buy that… but will buy whatever Brad Womack is selling!

Andy Baldwin completed the Ford Ironman World Championships on Saturday in Kona, Hawaii.

The former Bachelor hunk didn’t fare too badly, either, finishing with a time of 10 hours and 17 minutes. This is is fifth time he’s completed an Ironman in six years.

Meanwhile, the date of Andy’s deployment to Iraq has actually moved up by a month. The U.S. Navy Lt. and possible boyfriend of Tessa Horst will be leave for the war on December 1st.

If Andy Baldwin is to make up with former fiancee Tessa Horst, well, he better do it son.

His representative confirms that the Naval doctor will be deployed to Iraq for six to 12 months, starting in 2008.

“He leaves in January,” the source told Us Weekly.

And did his assignment lead to the breakup? A Baldwin friend says that while long-distance love was already proving difficult (he’s in Hawaii, she’s in San Francisco), the news he was going abroad “was a factor.

Supposedly, so was miss Iraq, Sepideh Haftgoli.