Former "Bachelor" star Colton Unrwood out as gay - CBS News

Contents:

• COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY
• FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• CASSIE RANDOLPH ADDRS EX COLTON UNRWOOD G OUT AS GAY
• DID COLTON UNRWOOD KNOW HE WAS GAY WHEN HE WENT ON THE BACHELOR?
• DID THE BACHELOR CONTTANTS KNOW COLTON UNRWOOD WAS GAY DURG FILMG? HANNAH BROWN SPEAKS OUT
• COLTON UNRWOOD, THE FIRST GAY ‘BACHELOR,’ CONONTS HIS CONTROVERSIAL COMG OUT
• 'THE BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• FORMER "BACHELOR" STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• 'BACHELOR' COLTON UNRWOOD'S GAY REVEAL PLIT HIS PAST — BUT DON'T ERASE
• FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD: ‘I’M GAY’
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY: 'I'M THE HAPPIT AND HEALTHIT I'VE EVER BEEN'
• ‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY
• COLTON UNRWOOD, FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR, OUT AS GAY
• BACHELOR'S COLTON UNRWOOD APOLOGIZ TO EX CASSIE RANDOLPH AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

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

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.

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

FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS 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? How do you know if you’re gay?

)In s 20 years, the anchise has never featured an all-gay st.

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

THE BACHELOR STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

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. Colton Unrwood is ready to live his former "Bachelor" star me out as gay an exclive terview wh Rob Roberts on "Good Morng Ameri" on Wednday. "And I'm gay.

CASSIE RANDOLPH ADDRS EX COLTON UNRWOOD G OUT AS 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.

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.

DID COLTON UNRWOOD KNOW HE WAS GAY WHEN HE WENT ON THE BACHELOR?

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.

Ms Randolph then filed for a rtrag orr agast Mr Unrwood, accg him of stalkg her, but she later requted the police vtigatn be source, Getty ImagImage ptn, In The Bachelor, he chose nttant Cassie RandolphMr Unrwood said he cid to e out after the panmic h, addg that was a time which forced people to "look at themselv the mirror and figure out who they are and what they've been nng om or what they've been puttg off their liv" said he had been aware of his sexualy for a long time, knowg he "jt felt different" om the age of Unrwood said he "learned the Bible that gay is a s" Catholic school. Durg his time playg football, he relled the term "gay" held "a nnotatn of negativy". "I thk there's a lot of thgs, when I look back, I'm like, 'No wonr I held , '" he may also be terted : Media ptn, Kenh Felts has e out as gay at 90 years old...

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

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. ’” 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.

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

”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.

'THE BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

“Growg up sports, I was tght that gay is wrong and gay is bad and football players are not gay, ” Unrwood said.

FORMER "BACHELOR" STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

“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. Cassie Randolph spoke out after ex Colton Unrwood me out as gay. Cassie Randolph, the former girliend of “Bachelor” star Colton Unrwood, addrsed her ex g out as gay.

Two years after his season of The Bachelor aired on ABC, former realy star Colton Unrwood has e forward to set the rerd straight about his sexualy, g out to Good Morng Ameri‘s Rob Roberts (and her natnal dience) on Wednday morng as a gay man who’d only recently e to terms wh his inty. As he starts to open up about the procs of g out to fay and iends, many are cur at exactly what pot Unrwood had the realizatn that he might be gay — specifilly, whether or not that realizatn happened before he went on The Bachelor.

'BACHELOR' COLTON UNRWOOD'S GAY REVEAL PLIT HIS PAST — BUT DON'T ERASE

All the Openly Gay Male Celebs Who Are Out, Proud & Smok' Hot. As anyone wh knowledge of the procs of g out n attt, there is no one light-swch moment of homosexualy that n be poted to, after which Unrwood is tegorilly brand a liar any time he may have dited otherwise. Raised a vout Christian home and gog on to bee a pro football player, he was surround throughout his life by homophobic rhetoric and toxic ias about masculy that told him he uldn’t be a man and have a good life while feelg the way he felt.

“And I uldn’t procs and put my fger on until high school, my hman year, when I knew I was gay. And by that time I had already grown up the Catholic church, I have gone to Catholic gra school, I learned the Bible that gay is a s.

I had ma mistak my sports and my athletic reer, and when you make mistak, ‘that play was gay’ or that was a bad… gay was always affiliated wh a nnotatn of negativy, and I thk there’s a lot of thgs when I look back, like, ‘No wonr I held .

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

“I ed to wake up the morng and pray for Him to take the gay away. The fact that we’ve prevly had such personal accs to Unrwood’s life will make people eager to revis our history wh him, and see how might be rewrten through our new unrstandg of him as a gay man. Unrwood is not the first gay Bachelor — or rather, lookg at him as the first gay Bachelor would be an entirely unproductive thg to do, given that he me on the show out of pure termatn for that not to be his fate.

(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.

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

”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. Along wh beg lled a liar by some fellow Bachelor Natn alumni, he and the women who dated him have also had to aga face qutns about whether they knew Unrwood was gay when he was datg dozens of women simultaneoly on The Bachelor.

‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY

[We weren’t like], ‘No, surely he’s not gay.

But all mak so much more sense wh jt who he was and the Brown ma a good pot sayg any lack of spark between Colton Unrwood and his nttants didn't tomatilly mean he was gay, jt that he wasn't what they expected, nor a good romantic match. I thk ’s really ol that he’s fally beg able to, for the first time, be himself, which is weird that I’m sayg that bee I dated him and he was gay the whole time. … I thk I like him better as a gay man.

Colton Unrwood didn’t plan on ever tellg the world that he was gay.

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

“I’ll jt say , ” Unrwood reveals on a recent afternoon, still adjtg to his new life as an openly gay man. 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.

BACHELOR'S COLTON UNRWOOD APOLOGIZ TO EX CASSIE RANDOLPH AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

And others legimately argued that as a hunky whe gay man, he was benefg om privilege, takg a platform that other members of the queer muny served more than he did. “If you’re gay, be gay! “I had never seen a football player that had ma to the NFL that had been gay, growg up Catholic.