Former Bachelor Colton Underwood Comes Out As Gay

The big reveal.

After a surprise teaser dropped on Tuesday, many fans speculated Colton Underwood would share his coming out story on Good Morning America, and he did just that. The former Bachelor star said he finally came to terms with his sexuality earlier this year, following his messy split with Cassie Randolph.

Underwood confessed to Robin Roberts in a pre-taped sit-down:

“I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay. And 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. I’m still nervous. It’s been a journey for sure.”

When Robin asked about the moment that gave him the ability to speak his truth today, Colton shared:

“I got into a place for me and my personal life that was dark and bad and I could list a bunch of things but they’d all be excuses. But 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 have rather died than say, ‘I’m gay.’ and I think that was sort of my wakeup call.”

But did he think about actually harming himself over the secret? Yes.

“There was a moment in LA that I woke up and I didn’t think I was going to wake up. I didn’t have the intentions of waking up and I think for me that was like my wakeup call and like, this is your life. Take back control. And I think looking back even beyond that, it’s like 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.”

JUST IN: Former “Bachelor” star @Colton Underwood speaks his truth and comes out to @robinroberts: “I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it… I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life.” https://t.co/PoYJUAPBpA pic.twitter.com/isP7SptUu7

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2021

They then went on to discuss his time on The Bachelor and if he regrets leading the women vying for his love on:

“I do think I could have handled it better. I’ll say that. I just wish I didn’t drag people into my own mess of figuring out who I was. I genuinely mean that. But I also, at the same time, like, that I can sit here and say I’m sorry to all 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 came out.”

Prior to his time on reality TV, the former football player famously dated Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman. Colton was first seen by Bachelor Nation on Becca Kufrin‘s season of The Bachelorette, where he made it to her final four in 2018. Underwood then appeared on season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise where he had a brief relationship with Tia Booth. After his time on the beach, he led season 23 of The Bachelor in 2019, where his virginity was heavily featured. He ended up giving his final rose to Cassie after that infamous fence jumping incident. The two were never engaged, but did go on to date for nearly two years. In that time and after, Colton’s sexuality was questioned multiple times. While promoting his memoir The First Time in March 2020, he even detailed how gay rumors plagued him for most of his adult life.

After announcing his breakup with Randolph in 2020, things took a turn for the worse — with his former girlfriend filing for a restraining order, accusing him of stalking and harassing her. In the police report, she alleged he put a tracking device on her vehicle. The author later released a statement explaining the former couple came to a private resolution and she later dismissed the restraining order and requested the police investigation be dropped.

In Wednesday’s interview, Colton talked about Cassie and said he was in love with her, which made feelings about his sexuality more confusing. He also apologized:

“I would like to say sorry for how things ended. I messed up. I made a lot of bad choices. I loved everything about her and it’s hard for me to articulate exactly what my emotions were in 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 that it wouldn’t have happened the way that it did. I wish that I had been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anybody else.”

See the full interview (below):

Thoughts on Colton’s coming out, Perezcious readers?! SOUND OFF in the comments with your thoughts!

[Image via WENN/Avalon/GMA]