Colton Unrwood, former 'Bachelor' star, says he's gay | CNN

Contents:

• COLTON UNRWOOD, THE FIRST GAY ‘BACHELOR,’ CONONTS HIS CONTROVERSIAL COMG OUT
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH ON HOW SHE 'FOUND OUT' ABOUT EX COLTON UNRWOOD COMG OUT AS GAY
• FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD: ‘I’M GAY’
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH IS 'HAPPY' EX COLTON UNRWOOD IS 'AT PEACE' SCE COMG OUT AS GAY
• FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• WHICH CONTTANTS ON COLTON UNRWOOD'S SEASON OF THE BACHELOR KNEW HE WAS GAY?
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY: 'I'M THE HAPPIT AND HEALTHIT I'VE EVER BEEN'
• DID THE BACHELOR CONTTANTS KNOW COLTON UNRWOOD WAS GAY DURG FILMG? HANNAH BROWN SPEAKS OUT
• FORMER "BACHELOR" STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• FORMER BACHELOR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

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

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 2020.Cred...Richard 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.”He scribed 2020 as a year of self-reflectn, one that “probably ma a lot of people look the mirror and nont what they were nng om or what they’ve been puttg off their liv.”“I’ve ran om myself for a long time,” Mr. And I’m gay.

“I would have rather died than say, ‘I’m gay.’ And I thk that was sort of my wake-up ll.”In his 2020 memoir, “The First Time: Fdg Myself and Lookg for Love on Realy TV,” Mr.

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

Unrwood scribed beg nonted by his parents about his sexualy as a teenager.“‘You know, Colt, we’d still love you and support you if you were gay,’” he relled his mother tellg him.His 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?

(They later broke off.)In s 20 years, the anchise has never featured an all-gay st.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT. 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.

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

”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.

'BACHELOR' ALUM CASSIE RANDOLPH IS 'HAPPY' EX COLTON UNRWOOD IS 'AT PEACE' SCE COMG 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. “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.

FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

(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. 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.

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.

WHICH CONTTANTS ON COLTON UNRWOOD'S SEASON OF THE BACHELOR KNEW HE WAS GAY?

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. 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!

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

“I had never seen a football player that had ma to the NFL that had been gay, growg up Catholic.

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

“I’ve had hundreds of gay Christian men and women who are nfed their walk wh J say, ‘I felt closer to God when I me out. “I never want people to thk that I’m g out to change the narrative, or to bsh over and not take rponsibily for my actns, and now that I have this gay life that I don’t have to addrs my past as a straight man, ” Unrwood says. Cled to ment for this story, or answer qutns about whether there have been discsns about velopg a gay season of “The Bachelor.

Realy TV has the power to change mds, showsg unrreprented muni to sectns of the untry who might not e across gay, bisexual or transgenr people their everyday liv. The number of high-profile gay love stori at the movi — among them, the Hulu romantic edy “Happit Season” and 2017 Sundance darlg “Call Me by Your Name” — remas small. It’s rare to see a full-fledged gay love story, or hts of gay romance, on a realy TV show.

When Lance Bass, who is openly gay, appeared on the program 2008, he was paired wh a female partner.

FORMER "BACHELOR" STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

Unrwood’s faced mons as a closeted gay man.

For Unrwood, growg up Washgton, Ill., wh a populatn of 15, 000, there were no gay role mols. “We had one gay person my entire town, ” Unrwood says. Though he felt that he was different at the age of 6, Unrwood never got the chance to teract wh gay people.

“I would have done anythg to see a gay football player, ” he says, gettg choked up.

FORMER BACHELOR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

He ed a iend’s Blockbter rd to rent the movie, so that no one his fay would spect him of beg gay. “Gay porn was sort of what I gravated towards, ” Unrwood adms, clenchg his jaw. At the time, Unrwood nied beg gay to his father.

He remembers that when Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL 2014, no one the locker room supported the ia.