Colton Underwood: Former Bachelor star says he is gay in Good Morning America interview
‘I’ve run from myself for a long time and I’ve hated myself for a long time,’ he said
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Your support makes all the difference.Former Bachelor star Colton Underwood has revealed he is gay in an interview on Good Morning America.
Underwood, who used to be a professional football player, opened up about his sexuality to broadcaster Robin Roberts.
“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 said.
“For me, I’ve run 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.”
Underwood, 29, said his decision to come out arrived after “[going] into a place in my personal life that was dark and bad”.
He added: “I would rather have died than say I’m gay, and that was sort of my wake up call.”
Underwood said that coming out has made him “the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life” and that he’s “emotional in such a good, happy, positive way”.
He added: “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.”
About his time on The Bachelor, the reality show in which he dated women, Underwood said he “could have handled it better”, stating: “I just wish I wouldn’t have dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was.”
He continued: “I genuinely mean that, but 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.”
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Underwood met ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph on the show in 2019, and the pair dated for a year-and-a-half after the series concluded.
They broke up in 2020, following which Randolph filed a restraining order against Underwood, who was accused of stalking and harassment.
Randolph eventually dismissed the restraining order and asked the police to stop their investigation.
Speaking about the publicised fallout, Underwood said: “I would like to say sorry for how things ended. I messed up, I made a lot of bad choices.”
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