Former “Bachelor” star Colton Underwood — who made headlines in 2019 for being a virgin when he appeared on the dating show — announced publicly he is gay in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Underwood dated series contestant Cassie Randolph from March 2019 until May 2020, when the pair broke up. In his new interview with “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts, the former football player announced he is homosexual.
He also said accepting his sexual identity has made him “closer to God.”
“I got closer to God this year,” Underwood told Roberts, who is also gay. “I used to pray for Him to change me, and [now] I can wake up and pray to God and I can actually have faith and go into church and be present and not have it be conditional on this.”
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Underwood, a Catholic, told the “GMA” host he “came to terms” with his sexuality earlier this year and has been “processing” it, adding he’s “the happiest and healthiest” he has “ever been” in his life.
Roberts, who professes Christian faith, asked Underwood what gave him the “courage to speak your truth as you are today.”
“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 be excuses,” he said. “I think, overall, the reason now is because I got to a place where I didn’t think I was ever going to share this. I would’ve rather died than say, ‘I’m gay,’ and I think that was sort of my wake-up call.”
Underwood apologized to Randolph for “how things ended” between them, saying he made “a lot of bad choices.”
He told Roberts he was in love with Randolph, which “only made it harder and more confusing for me.”
“If I’m being very honest,” Underwood said, “I loved everything about her. And it’s hard for me to articulate exactly what my emotions were going through that relationship with her, because I obviously had an internal fight going on.”
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The producers of “The Bachelor” franchise said they are “so inspired by Colton Underwood’s courage to embrace and pursue his authentic self,” adding, “As firm believers in the power of love, we celebrate Colton’s journey in the LGBTQIA+ community every step of the way.”
Shortly after his “GMA” interview aired, it was reported by Deadline that Underwood has inked a deal with Netflix for a reality series. Details of the upcoming project have not yet been disclosed.