Colton Unrwood beg the 'first gay Bachelor' would be a major mistake for the embattled ABC anchise

Contents:

• COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY
• OPEN MENUVIOSHOPWELLNSFOODCULTUREFAYLIVGSTYLETRAVELNEWSBOOK CLUBGMA3: WYNTKNEWSLETTERPRIVACY POLICY — YOUR US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS — CHILDREN'S ONLE PRIVACY POLICY — INTERT-BASED ADS — TERMS OF USE — DO NOT SELL MY INFO — CONTACT USCOPYRIGHT © 2023 ABC NEWS INTER VENTUR. ALL RIGHTS RERVED.SEARCHSHOP THE BT DORM SENTIALSCULTURETHE BACHELORAPRIL 14, 2021FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH ON HOW SHE 'FOUND OUT' ABOUT EX COLTON UNRWOOD COMG OUT AS GAY
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH IS 'HAPPY' EX COLTON UNRWOOD IS 'AT PEACE' SCE COMG OUT AS GAY
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY: 'I'M THE HAPPIT AND HEALTHIT I'VE EVER BEEN'
• FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD: ‘I’M GAY’
• IT’S TIME FOR AN ACTUALLY GAY SEASON OF THE BACHELOR ALREADY
• COLTON UNRWOOD, THE FIRST GAY ‘BACHELOR,’ CONONTS HIS CONTROVERSIAL COMG OUT
• DID THE BACHELOR CONTTANTS KNOW COLTON UNRWOOD WAS GAY DURG FILMG? HANNAH BROWN SPEAKS OUT
• FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR SAYS HE IS GAY
• COLTON UNRWOOD, FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR, OUT AS GAY
• COLTON UNRWOOD BEG THE 'FIRST GAY BACHELOR' WOULD BE A MAJOR MISTAKE FOR THE EMBATTLED ABC ANCHISE
• 'THE BACHELOR' 'S COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY: 'I'VE RAN OM MYSELF FOR A LONG TIME'

COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY

The former Bachelor nttant me out as gay April 2021 and has been attached to Brown sce last fall.

Unrwood then me out as gay April 2021 an terview wh Rob Roberts on Good Morng Ameri, and went on to star on Netflix docu-seri Comg Out Colton, tracg Unrwood's own g out journey and teractns wh other notable gay public figur. He was the first lead of The Bachelor anchise to e out as gay. Related ntent: Former Bachelor Colton Unrwood out as gayStars celebrate newly out Bachelor alum Colton Unrwood: 'You're ee now'Why Comg Out Colton is a major fumble Episo Reps Zach on the season fale of The Bachelor S27 E10 Rep The Bachelor fale rep: Zach go om 'eak-out mo' to pickg a fiancée By Kristen Baldw The Bachelor rep.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe 29-year-old former football player had wrten about qutng his sexualy a memoir, published Shotwell/Invisn, via Richard Shotwell, via Invisn, via Associated PrsColton Unrwood, a star of “The Bachelor” and a former football player, me out as gay an terview wh Rob Roberts that aired Wednday on “Good Morng Ameri.

OPEN MENUVIOSHOPWELLNSFOODCULTUREFAYLIVGSTYLETRAVELNEWSBOOK CLUBGMA3: WYNTKNEWSLETTERPRIVACY POLICY — YOUR US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS — CHILDREN'S ONLE PRIVACY POLICY — INTERT-BASED ADS — TERMS OF USE — DO NOT SELL MY INFO — CONTACT USCOPYRIGHT © 2023 ABC NEWS INTER VENTUR. ALL RIGHTS RERVED.SEARCHSHOP THE BT DORM SENTIALSCULTURETHE BACHELORAPRIL 14, 2021FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

And I’m gay. “I would have rather died than say, ‘I’m gay.

“‘You know, Colt, we’d still love you and support you if you were gay, ’” he relled his mother tellg father was more nontatnal. “He’d pulled up the history of recent Google search, which clud gay porn s and a variety of qutns: ‘Am I gay?

'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH ON HOW SHE 'FOUND OUT' ABOUT EX COLTON UNRWOOD COMG OUT AS GAY

How do you know if you’re gay? )In s 20 years, the anchise has never featured an all-gay st. 13:36Former 'Bachelor' Colton Unrwood speaks his tth and out as gayColton Unrwood is ready to live his tth.

"And I'm gay. "When Roberts, who is also openly gay, said she uld "see the joy" and "see the relief" Unrwood, he said he was "emotnal , like such a good, happy, posive way, " and is "the happit and healthit" he's ever been. Unrwood said he went through a "dark and bad" time before feelg like he uld reveal this about himself and his "wake up ll" was feelg like he "would've rather died" than say he's gay.

'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH IS 'HAPPY' EX COLTON UNRWOOD IS 'AT PEACE' SCE COMG OUT AS GAY

It took until high school for him to realize he "was more attracted to the boys and the men" than he was the oppose grown up the Catholic church, he remembered he "learned the Bible that gay is a s" Catholic gra school.

And durg his time sports, he remembered people g the word "gay" as a term that held "a nnotatn of negativy.

'BACHELOR' ALUM COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY: 'I'M THE HAPPIT AND HEALTHIT I'VE EVER BEEN'

Unrwood said he has grown "closer to God" this revelatn and said he knows some people will qutn how that's even possible for a gay man to say. "I ed to wake up the morng and pray for him to take the gay away. I am proud to be gay.

Colton Unrwood publicly g out as gay me as a surprise to his ex-girliend Cassie Randolph. But Randolph eventually revealed how she first disvered the news that Unrwood, 29, is gay after he me out April 2021. RELATED VIDEO: Cassie Randolph Didn't Know Ex Colton Unrwood Was Gay, Says Source: 'She's Still Procsg'.

FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD: ‘I’M GAY’

Former Bachelor Colton Unrwood is openg up much more about his ntroversial g out — and the upg Netflix realy show about , which is movg ahead spe lls for s 29-year-old realy star, who me out as gay on April 14, now adms that had sexual experienc wh men prr to jog The Bachelor anchise 2018 and then pickg Cassie Randolph 2019. He also said that prr to g out, someone attempted to blackmail him after he vised a gay spa. Unrwood — who said he ed Grr, a well-known gay datg and hookup app, unr an alias 2016 or 2017 — clarified, “When I say ‘hookups, ’ not sex.

IT’S TIME FOR AN ACTUALLY GAY SEASON OF THE BACHELOR ALREADY

’” the former football player said of his sexual enunters wh men, prevly notg that growg up Catholic the Midwt ma him believe beg gay was a s.

While 's unclear the exact timele, pre- or post-Randolph spl, he secretly vised a gay spa Los Angel last year “jt to look. ”Unrwood, who said he knew he was different at age 6 and gay durg his hman year high school, also spoke about how his nservative upbrgg sred him to his closeted life. He said he had no gay iends growg up Illois, and certaly no out on on his football team.

He relled there beg jt out gay person his town was "the butt of every joke. When his father nonted him after disverg that he viewed gay porn on the puter as an eighth grar, he nied beg gay. Later, when 2005's Brokeback Mounta me out, he sneakily ed a iend's Blockbter rd to rent the film so his fay wouldn't acce him of beg gay.

COLTON UNRWOOD, THE FIRST GAY ‘BACHELOR,’ CONONTS HIS CONTROVERSIAL COMG OUT

“Growg up sports, I was tght that gay is wrong and gay is bad and football players are not gay, ” Unrwood said. “By the time I realized that I was gay, I didn’t want to be gay.

It was easy for me to hi pla sight behd a football mask and huntg and fishg and the thgs that this world tells is ‘mascule’ and ‘manly, '" he said, addg, "I would have done anythg to see a gay football player. (Sarah Morris / Getty Imag for Baby2Baby) Colton Unrwood won’t be “The Bachelor” much longer: Ls than a year after g out as gay, the former star of the ABC datg show is engaged to polil strategist Jordan C. ”The former NFL player, who said the Netflix doc that he ially “didn’t want to be gay, ” lled 2021 the “most transformative year” of his life.

DID THE BACHELOR CONTTANTS KNOW COLTON UNRWOOD WAS GAY DURG FILMG? HANNAH BROWN SPEAKS OUT

Colton Unrwood me out as gay nearly one year after announcg his spl om Cassie Randolph. Unrwood me out as gay April 2021.

I've hated myself for a long time, and I'm gay. And for me, I've ran om myself for a long time, I've hated myself for a long time, and I'm gay, " Unrwood TV star said was his down time spent durg the ronavis panmic that helped him procs his tth. I got to a place where I'd rather die than thk I was gay, " he said.

FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR SAYS HE IS GAY

Former 'Bachelor' star says he is gay. Colton Unrwood told Rob Roberts on “Good Morng Ameri” that he is gay an terview that aired Wednday morng. I’m gay.

“I’m gay, ” he told anchor Rob Roberts, shaken though visibly relieved. I’m hant to ame Unrwood’s g out as some kd of signifint “gay first”, given how such narrativ often end up portrayg LGBTQ+ people as new, as if we haven’t been here the whole time. “The media that make visible simultaneoly obscure our prence history by ntually amg trans people [and, this stance wh Unrwood, gay people] as new, as a morn, medilized phenomenon only now g to light, ” wrer and artist Man M Page wrote 2017.

Other nttants have, siar to Unrwood, publicly e out after filmg all that md, feels like would be a real missed opportuny for the Bachelor powers that be to not rest Unrwood for the anchise’s first-ever Actually Gay season wh an Actually Gay would the first gay season of The Bachelor look like?

COLTON UNRWOOD, FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR, OUT AS GAY

That was one of the first major attempts at givg gay guys the gay versn of The Bachelor so many longed for, though greatly hred self by secretly addg a bunch of straight men to the st whout rmg s starrg bachelor first. Drawg on stereotyp about gay people beg ceptive and untstworthy?

Though for all the ways that Fdg Prce Charmg provid better reprentatn than s spirual precsor, was also borg – seemgly more ncerned about provg to viewers that gay men’s romantic aspiratns were every b as normal as their straight unterparts than wh pictg gay men on their own The Bachelor portrayed love eply heteropatriarchal terms (multiple women pete for the attentn of a sgle man, lookg for monogamy and, of urse, marriage), Fdg Prce Charmg simply gave the long-nng seri a h at of homosexual pat. Could the first gay season of The Bachelor offer somethg different om what the aforementned rivativ spired gave years past?

COLTON UNRWOOD BEG THE 'FIRST GAY BACHELOR' WOULD BE A MAJOR MISTAKE FOR THE EMBATTLED ABC ANCHISE

), I’d want s hypothetil first-ever gay season to look somethg like MTV’s sexually fluid 2019 season of Are You the One?

I’d love to see a Bachelor season do new thgs like acknowledge the probable sexual tensn between the nttants, and a gay season of The Bachelor seems as well poised as any to explore that terrory. Somethg tells me that we wouldn’t see that kd of sex-posive change of format on the first gay season of The Bachelor though.

) So, maybe I don’t really want a gay season of The Bachelor after all? Colton Unrwood didn’t plan on ever tellg the world that he was gay. “I’ll jt say , ” Unrwood reveals on a recent afternoon, still adjtg to his new life as an openly gay man.

'THE BACHELOR' 'S COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY: 'I'VE RAN OM MYSELF FOR A LONG TIME'

Acrdg to him, last year, while livg Los Angel, he secretly vised a spa known for terg to gay clientele. At one time, g out of the closet was emed a reer killer, but shows like “The Real World, ” “Survivor” and the origal “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, ” now rebooted on Netflix, led to a profound, posive transformatn how gay people are perceived, and helped brg about progrsive chang to LGBTQ civil rights.

As new generatns of lennials and Gen Zers have grown up wh LGBTQ iends and role mols, gay Amerins have attaed the right to marry, and queerns has bee more mastream media, as proven shows like HBO’s high school h “Euphoria” and sentially half of the characters the Ryan Murphy universe. A gay “Bachelor, ” though?

His announcement that he was gay cid wh news that he was filmg a Netflix realy show about his new life.