This morning on the highly-promoted sit-down interview with GMA’s Robin Roberts, former ‘Bachelor’ lead Colton Underwood, revealed that he was gay and that he has finally come to terms with it.
The ex-football star shared: “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 or what they’ve been putting off in their lives. 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 was sort of letting people know. I’m still nervous, but it’s been a journey for sure. I’m like the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life. That means the world to me.”
Underwood expressed he went through a very dark time to be able to reveal his truth: “I got into a place 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 I think that was sort of my wake up call. There was a moment in L.A. that I woke up and I didn’t think I was going to wake up,” he said. “I didn’t have the intentions of waking up, and I did. And I think for me that was my wake up call, that, ‘This is your life. Take back control.’ I think looking back even beyond that is… 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.”’
As to the questions or anger that ‘Bachelor Nation’ are going to have that Underwood misled the female contestants on his season, or he duped the audience, Colton said: “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’ll say that. I just wish I wouldn’t have dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was. I genuinely mean that, but also at the same time I can say ‘I’m sorry’ to all of those women, I can also say ‘thank you,’ because without them and without the ‘Bachelor’ franchise, I don’t know if this would have ever come out.”
Colton was highly-promoted during his season as the “Virgin Bachelor”. He acknowledged he was indeed a virgin at that time, but it was because he was gay, but just “didn’t know how to handle it”. Underwood also shared he was thankful to God that he was cast on the reality-competition as one of its season’s leads because he thought that would make him straight. He told Roberts in his talk with God, ‘Finally, you’re letting me be straight. Finally, you’re giving me a wife, a fiancée, and then I’m going to have the kids, then I’m going to have the house, and then I’m going to have all this.’

Photo: JPI
As to his contentious break-up with ‘Bachelor’ contestant, Cassie Randolph, where she had at one time had a restraining order put on Underwood and later revoked it, he admitted: “I would like to say sorry for how things ended. I messed up, I made a lot of bad choices.” But told Robin Roberts, he indeed loved Cassie, sharing, “That only made it harder and more confusing for me. if I’m being very honest, I loved everything about her. And it’s hard for me to articulate exactly what my emotions were, and going through that relationship with her was, because I obviously had an internal fight going on. I would just say that I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. I’m sorry for any pain and emotional stress I caused. I wish it wouldn’t have happened the way it did. I wish that I would have been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anybody else.”
Underwood shared that his upbringing in the Catholic church and being in the world of high school, college, and pro sports contributed to why he never came out previously, citing,: ” learned in the Bible that gay is a sin. I had made mistakes in my sports and in my athletic career, and when you make mistakes, ‘that play was gay’ or that was a bad… gay was always affiliated with a connotation of negativity, and I think there’s a lot of things when I look back, like, ‘No wonder I held it in.’”
So, were you surprised that Colton revealed he was gay? How do you feel about the journey he expressed in his interview on GMA to speak his truth? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
How is Tuc Watkins going to juggle two acting jobs doing both OLTL and DH?!? Is it true that he only has a short-term contract with OLTL?
Could Wisteria Lane get any WHITER? The failed launching of the Applewhites really screwed Alfre Woodward and the sexy as hell Mehcad Brooks. Every year on DH it’s 1 new white character after the next: Katherine, her daughter, her doctor hubby, the psycho ex, Dave, the stripper, the white gay guys, the Bolens, the Fairview strangler, the gold digging Russian, the psycho ex of Angie, etc. Thank goodness for Vanessa Williams spicing up the show and giving it diversity. Watkins as a regular is a wrong move on DH’s part. It reeks of copying the success of Modern Family’s Cameron… Read more »
Congrats to Mr. Watkins. He is a wonderful comedian and I hope his career continues to shine. I would ask those in charge at OLTL to, however, cease with the David “hit-and-runs.” Save for the occasional crisis or wedding, David should not be given a story nor a love interest since each will be compromised with this actor’s constant get up and go. It is unfair to the viewers to ask us to invest in a love story when it will not last and the other character in the story (usually Dorian) is given the short end of the stick… Read more »
I agree with you. Although, I like the character of David, I grow really tired of the revolving door status that his character seems to come along with. This is why I wasn’t happy with David being the one to run Kimberly out of town. David comes and goes as often as a breeze in spring…..They should recast the role of Kimberly and give Clint the exciting story that we were all starting to warm up to. He good for a nice laugh and all, but when are we going to see a serious side of David? If they are… Read more »
I am very tired of David’s comings and goings and the affect it has on other characters and to storytelling. I would be interested in Dorian having a REAL romance instead of being entangled with a character played by an actor who will not be on the show. It is VERY UNFAIR to fans of Dorian. The actress deserves better in story and her fans deserve an actor who is committed to remaining on the canvas and involved in continuing story. Many fans loved A Martinez as Ray Montez. I wish TPTB would bring this Emmy award winning actor back… Read more »
I’m glad Tuc will be on Desparate Housewives much more now. He is really good on that show and giving him more to do for a longer period is just great. But, I’m hoping that doesn’t mean he won’t be on less on OLTL. He plays a wonderful character of David Vickers and is a highlight when he appears…Be seeing you Tuc….