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

Contents:

• COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY
• FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• 'BACHELOR' ALUM COLTON UNRWOOD SAYS HE WAS 'BLACKMAILED' BEFORE G OUT AS GAY
• ‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY
• GAY 'BACHELOR': A ROSE WH A HOSE
• FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY, CHRIS HARRISON IS 'VERY PROUD' OF HIM
• FANS WANT A GAY 'BACHELOR' SEASON WH COLTON UNRWOOD, BUT 'S NOT THE RIGHT MOVE. HERE'S WHY
• COLTON UNRWOOD, FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR, OUT AS GAY
• ‘THE BACHELOR’ HAS A TROUBLED HISTORY WHEN TO GAY ROMANCE. IT’S NOT ALONE
• FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR SAYS HE IS GAY
• FORMER JAZZMAN RUDY GAY HAS INTERT FROM ‘SEVERAL’ COMPETIVE TEAMS
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
• FORMER "BACHELOR" STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY
• FORMER BACHELOR COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY: ‘I’M THE HAPPIT AND HEALTHIT I’VE EVER BEEN’

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. “‘You know, Colt, we’d still love you and support you if you were gay, ’” he relled his mother tellg father was more nontatnal.

FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

“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.

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.

"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.

'BACHELOR' ALUM COLTON UNRWOOD SAYS HE WAS 'BLACKMAILED' BEFORE G OUT AS GAY

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.

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.

‘BACHELOR’ STAR COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY

"I ed to wake up the morng and pray for him to take the gay away. I am proud to be gay.

Unrwood game out as gay on "GMA" a month after Colton Unrwood publicly me out as gay an terview wh "Good Morng Ameri, " he said that he did so, part, bee he was "blackmailed. "Unrwood told the outlet he received an anonymo email om someone claimg to have nu photos of him at a Los Angel spa known for s gay clientele, which he had recently vised. "And I'm gay, " he ntued.

GAY 'BACHELOR': A ROSE WH A HOSE

The former Bachelor star, who led the 2019 season of the ABC realy datg anchise, said on Good Morng Ameri that he is gay. And, I’m gay, ” he said durg an exclive s-down wh Rob Roberts for ABC News’ GMA.

After gettg to a place his life that he scribed as “dark” and “bad, ” he relled how at one pot he felt, “I would have rather died than said, ‘I’m gay, ’ and I thk that was my wake-up ll.

He relled how he thanked God after his announcement as star for “makg him straight, ” sharg, “I’ve known that I’ve been different sce the age of 6, and I uldn’t procs and I uldn’t put my fger on what was until [my hman year of high school] when I knew I was gay. ” Growg up the Catholic church, he said, “I learned the Bible that gay is a s” and he relled how, as an athlete, the word “gay” was ed a negative nnotatn. JUST IN: Former “Bachelor” star @Colton Unrwood speaks his tth and out to @robroberts: “I’m gay.

FORMER 'BACHELOR' STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY, CHRIS HARRISON IS 'VERY PROUD' OF HIM

“I thought, maybe I am gay. He ntued, “Even while my season was airg, I battled the gay [mors].

FANS WANT A GAY 'BACHELOR' SEASON WH COLTON UNRWOOD, BUT 'S NOT THE RIGHT MOVE. HERE'S WHY

They’d say, ‘he’s gay, he’s hidg .

The tth is I was ‘the virg Bachelor’ bee I was gay, and I didn’t know how to handle that. Sce then, he told Roberts that he has settled down Denver, closer to his fay, and that he has grown closer to God: “I ed to wake up the morng and pray for him to take the gay away.

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

Gay 'Bachelor'. We've learned the Logo work is shootg a gay 'bachelor' show, and the prize is Robert Sepulveda Jr. McCoy for The New York TimHis Sexualy Don’t Defe Him, but It Can Set Him ApartEric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals.

Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized. He worked his way up om ternships to full-time broadstg jobs, and while anyone wh an ter nnectn uld learn he was gay, nobody asked, and he did not say so aga publicly. It was bil and ugly, filled wh “every gay slur you uld thk of, ” Bach said.

It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster. As far as Bach knows — and as far as many of his unterparts wh other teams are aware — there are no other openly gay broadsters the sport. McCoy for The New York TimBorn to BroadstLong before he knew he was gay, Bach knew he wanted to be a sports father was a ach, and a love of sports ran through the fay.

‘THE BACHELOR’ HAS A TROUBLED HISTORY WHEN TO GAY ROMANCE. IT’S NOT ALONE

”)He began to accept that he was gay durg his sophomore year of high school, but wh that acceptance me worry. As a multisport athlete, Bach was often locker rooms filled wh chos of homophobic slurs and gay jok.

FORMER ‘BACHELOR’ STAR SAYS HE IS GAY

’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed.

He did each job to the bt of his abily, and his sexualy never me, he has found that there’s a difference between beg a gay man baseball and beg pletely fortable as one.

“I was sually like, ‘You know I’m gay, right? That uncertaty mak him feel self-nsc a way he believ is mon for gay people mostly straight spac. “I feel like that’s the burn a lot of gay people live wh — tryg to be perfect for straight people, ” he job requir equent teractn wh the players and the achg staff — addn to his duti as play-by-play announcer, Bach also is the ma public relatns ntact for the team — and he said he hadn’t fully relaxed any of them.

FORMER JAZZMAN RUDY GAY HAS INTERT FROM ‘SEVERAL’ COMPETIVE TEAMS

The environment is not hostile, but Bach never fets that he is the only openly gay person the room.

Mrer/Frericksburg NatnalsThat feelg is somewhat “self-flicted, ” Bach said, but he believ the solutn is to brg more openly gay people to sports and create a safe environment for those who are already there but have felt necsary to hi their League Baseball has touted self as a place of clivy. Billy Bean, an openly gay former player, was named the league’s first ambassador for cln 2014 and has sce been promoted to senr vice print and special assistant to Commissner Rob Maned. In Febary, Anrson Comás, a mor leaguer the Chigo Whe Sox anizatn, me out as gay wh a post on Instagram, and the announcement was met wh public support om his club and some people around the cints suggt there is more work to be done.

The Boston Red Sox lled up a mor leaguer, Matt Dermody, who had posted an anti-gay msage on Twter 2021, and Anthony Bass, a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays, reposted a vio on social media that lled for boytts of L. “Those of that are this very small mory sports have to keep on havg the nversatns, keep on workg really ick’ hard to earn your spot this space, ” he aspir to be a gay person at home a big-league booth. McCoy for The New York TimA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 27 of the New York edn wh the headle: A Gay Broadster Climbs the Ladr, But It’s Been Lonely.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

Former "Bachelor" star Colton Unrwood has e out as gay. ”In his 2020 memoir "The First Time: Fdg Myself and Lookg for Love on Realy TV" (a cheeky reference to Unrwood's much-discsed virgy throughout his appearanc on "The Bachelorette, " "Bachelor Paradise" and then "The Bachelor"), Unrwood explored stanc of self-disvery throughout his life, om re-learng his inty after his football reer to qutng his one pot the book, he wonred if his hancy to sleep wh his high school girliend meant he was gay.

"Maybe (if I had been gay) would have helped me to know myself better and sooner. " Reflectg on his past to "GMA, " Unrwood said growg up the Catholic church and playg football (where a bad play would sometim be dubbed "gay" as a way of sultg the player) ma difficult for him to accept who he was, though he had an klg that he was different by the time he was 6 years were tim durg his self-disvery that he fell to a "dark" place and sometim grappled wh suicidal thoughts, he add. Former "Bachelor" Colton Unrwood – you might remember him as the one who jumped the fence – me out as gay Wednday morng on ABC's "Good Morng Ameri.

"Unrwood's revelatn has renewed lls for a gay versn of "The Bachelor, " which may sound like a great ia: After all, fans have long lled for the show to feature an LGBTQ lead. "But a gay season of "The Bachelor, " given the seri' lacklter track rerd when to reprentatn, would likely the full story:Former 'Bachelor' star Colton Unrwood out as gayWhy? But for a gay season of the show to succeed om a reprentatn standpot, would need to spend signifint amount of time tg the dience about gay datg.

FORMER "BACHELOR" STAR COLTON UNRWOOD OUT AS GAY

We've been down this road before Calls for a gay versn of "The Bachelor" are nothg new – and the ncept has been tried before.

Former "Bachelor" Juan Pablo Galavis ma flammatory homophobic remarks (though he later apologized) at a Televisn Crics Associatn event 2014. And that same year, then-host Chris Harrison qutned whether havg a gay "Bachelor" would be a "good bs cisn" an terview wh The New York Tim Magaze.

Attus toward acceptance have certaly shifted for the better sce then, and the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage and prohibed employment discrimatn for gay and transgenr dividuals.

FORMER BACHELOR COLTON UNRWOOD COM OUT AS GAY: ‘I’M THE HAPPIT AND HEALTHIT I’VE EVER BEEN’

And as for whether Unrwood should star a new "Bachelor" season: A newly out person g to terms wh their sexual orientatn may not be the ndidate to fall love on natnal said, every gay person's g out journey is their own – and Unrwood's tth uld change hearts and GLAAD's head of talent, Anthony Allen Ramos, said a statement: "Given the large and loyal fandom who know Colton om 'The Bachelor, ' his g out and discsn of his fah will hopefully open ey to the lns of out and proud LGBTQ people. Former "Bachelor" star Colton Unrwood revealed that he is gay a taped terview wh "Good Morng Ameri" anchor Rob Roberts that aired Wednday.

And I’m gay, and I me to terms wh that earlier this year, and I’ve been procsg and the next step all of this was sort of lettg people know, " Unrwood, 29, told Roberts. ""I'm proud to be gay, " Unrwood said later the terview. In an terview wh Entertament Tonight last year, he said that "The Bachelor" helped him realize that he was not gay, after stgglg wh his sexualy.

And a book he published 2020, "The First Time: Fdg Myself and Lookg for Love on Realy TV, " he revealed that growg up, people would qutn whether he was gay, sce he was a virg and a football player. The tth is, I was a virg bachelor bee I was gay and I didn't know how to handle , " Unrwood told Roberts.