Colton Underwood is gay.
The former “Bachelor” came out to Robin Roberts in an interview “Good Morning America” broadcast on Wednesday morning.
“I ran away from myself for a long time,” the 29-year-old said in the pre-recorded interview. “I hate myself for a long time. I came to terms with this earlier this year and processed it, and the next step in all of this was kind of informing people. ”
Underwood, who realized he was “different” at the age of 6, said he was “the happiest and healthiest” ever, but admitted he woke up in a “dark and bad” place before to realize its truth.
“Generally, the reason now is because I got to a place where … I’d rather die than say I’m gay,” he continued.
The former NFL player suggested he even tried to commit suicide.
“There was a time in LA when I woke up and I didn’t think I would wake up,” he said. “I did not intend to wake up. I think it was my wake-up call for me. ”
Underwood was last tied to “Bachelor” contestant Cassie Randolph, who took a restraining order against her last year. The pair met on season 23 of the ABC dating show.
During the “GMA” interview, Underwood apologized directly to Randolph.
“I would like to be sorry for how things ended,” he said. “I messed up. I made a lot of bad choices.”
Underwood admitted that he was in love with Randolph, which made it more difficult to discover his sexuality.
“It made her more confused for me,” he said. “I liked everything about her. … I wish I had been brave enough to sort it out before breaking into someone else. ”
The couple broke up for the first time in 2019, when they realized that they were “not communicating”, but they learned to work on these issues and reunited.
They broke up again in 2020, but the break-up took a dark turn. A few months later, Randolph asked for – and received – a restraining order against Underwood after she claimed to be following her.
Randolph, 25, alleged that Underwood put a tracking device on the car and sent him “disturbing” text messages. Finally, she filed a police report on the alleged tracker.
He dropped the restraining order in November.
“We managed to reach a private agreement to address any of Cassie’s concerns,” Underwood told TMZ afterwards. “I don’t think Cassie did anything wrong in filing restraining orders, and I also think she acted in good faith. I appreciate everyone’s respect for privacy on this issue. ”
Underwood apologized to the women he hurt while appearing in “The Bachelor.”
“I’m sorry I was ‘the bachelor?’ “I regret handling it the way I did it? Do. I think I could have done better, “he admitted. “I just wish I hadn’t dragged people into the mess of finding out who they are.
“… But I can sit here and say I’m sorry for all those women, and I can also thank you because without them and without the ‘Bachelor’ franchise, I don’t know if that would have worked out.”
Underwood, who admitted that he thanked God for taking him to “The Bachelor” because it means he is “right”, first appeared in Becca Kufrin’s season of “The Bachelorette” in 2018.