Culture

The Bachelor star Colton Underwood comes out as gay

By Sam Damshenas

14th April 2021

Colton Underwood has come out as gay.

During an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, the former professional football player and star of The Bachelor said quarantine has helped him come to terms with his sexuality.

“Obviously this year’s been a lot for a lot of people, and it’s probably made a lot of people look themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are and what they’ve been running from and putting off in their lives,” he admitted.

“For me, I’ve ran from myself for a long time and I’ve hated myself for a long time, and I’m gay. I came to terms with that that earlier this year and have been processing it. The next step in all of this is sort of letting people know.

“I’m still nervous, but it’s been a journey for sure.”

Although the whole process has been an emotional one for him, the 29-year-old said he’s “emotional in such a good, happy, positive way,” and is the “happiest and healthiest” he’s ever been in his life. Now, he can live authentically.

After being asked what gave him the courage to tell the world about his sexuality, Underwood revealed: “I got into a place for me in my personal life that was dark and bad. I can list a bunch of different things but they’d all be excuses.

“I think overall the reason why now is because I got to a place where I didn’t think I was ever going to share this. I would rather have died than say I’m gay, and that was sort of my wake up call.”

Robins continued to ask Underwood if he’s ever thought about harming himself.

He recalled a moment in LA when he didn’t think he was going to get out of bed,  which he described as his “wake up call” and the moment he thought, ‘This is your life. Take back control.’

“I think looking back even beyond that is like even just suicidal thoughts and driving my car close to a cliff, like ‘Oh, if this goes off the cliff, it’s not that big of a deal.’ I don’t feel that anymore,” he explained further.

Underwood made his debut on The Bachelor franchise as a contestant on 2018’s The Bachelorette. He made his second appearance on Bachelor in Paradise’s fifth season, before becoming the title star in 2018 for season 23.

Since his time on The Bachelor, Underwood has questioned whether his various appearances on the franchise was the best move for him.

“I thought a lot about this. Do I regret being ‘The Bachelor?’ And handling it the way that I did? I do think I could have handled it better, I do say that. I just wish I wouldn’t have dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was,” he said.

“I genuinely mean that but I also at the same time I can say ‘I’m sorry’ to all of those women, I can also thank them, and without the ‘Bachelor’ franchise, I don’t know if this would have ever come out.”

You can watch Colton Underwood’s coming out interview with GMA below.