Former 'Bachelor' Colton Underwood Comes Out As Gay

“I got into a place for me in my personal life that was dark and bad and I can list a bunch of different things but they’d all be excuses … I would have rather died than say I’m gay and I think that was sort of my wake-up call,” he continued. “There was a moment in L.A. where I woke up and I didn’t think I was going to wake up. I didn’t have the intention of waking up and I did. And I think for me that was my wake-up call…this is your life, take back control.”

After letting the world know he was still a virgin when he appeared on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette in 2018, Underwood starred in his own season of The Bachelor, where his virginity was made a focal point of the show and his journey to find love.

In the end, he chose Cassie, though the two never got engaged and had a very messy break-up about a year later involving tracking devices and restraining orders.

Colton released a memoir in March 2020, in which he said his time on The Bachelor actually helped him realize he wasn’t gay. He said he questioned his sexuality in his early 20s as a result of being bullied growing up, saying he believed the bullies who told him he was gay.

Now, it looks like he’s finally learning to accept what he’s known all along.

Colton shared later in the interview that he wished he would have accepted his truth sooner.

“I’ve had sort of a range of responses and the underlying most common was ‘I wish you would have told me sooner’ and when I hear that I wish I would have had faith in my friends and family a little bit more,” the former Bachelor star explained. “The only reason I’m sitting down with you today is because I have the love and support of my friends and my family.