By Curtis M. Wong | HuffPost
“I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life,” the reality TV star told “Good Morning America.”
Colton Underwoof has publicly opened up about his sexuality for the first time, revealing in an emotional interview on Wednesday that he is gay.
The former “Bachelor” star told “Good Morning America” that he was ready to live as his authentic self after a “dark” period in his personal life.
“I’ve ran from myself for a long time,” Underwood told host Robin Roberts. “I’ve hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay. I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it, and the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know.
The 29-year-old recalled a time when he “would rather have died than say, ‘I’m gay,’ and that was sort of my wake-up call,” and said he had also considered harming himself.
“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.”
These days, however, he said he’s “the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Underwood was the lead of the 23rd season of “The Bachelor,” which aired in 2019. He gave his final rose to Cassie Randolph, but ultimately decided not to propose to her. The couple ended their relationship last year, and Randolph temporarily got a restraining order against Underwood after accusing him of stalking her.
Underwood told Roberts he’d “loved everything about” Randolph, but said he “had an internal fight going on” during the relationship.
“I wish that I had been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anybody else,” he said.
Underwood talked about being a virgin while on the show, and his sexuality quickly became the subject of ample media speculation. In his 2020 memoir, “The First Time,” he spoke at length about his Christian faith, and recalled having been bullied by classmates in grade school and high school because they assumed he was gay.
The Indiana native was also a contestant on Season 14 of “The Bachelorette,” which aired in 2018, and appeared on the fifth season of “Bachelor In Paradise” that same year. Prior to his reality TV fame, he spent three years on NFL practice squads.
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