The Bachelor's Colton Underwood comes out as gay

Turns out Billy Eichner was right: Colton Underwood did end up being the first gay Bachelor. During an appearance on Good Morning America, Underwood told Robin Roberts that he finally accepts he’s gay after years of not feeling comfortable with his sexuality.

“Obviously, this year’s been a lot for a lot of people and it’s probably made a lot of people look themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are, what they’ve been running from, or what they’ve been putting off in their lives,” Underwood said in the interview. “And, for me, I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it. And the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know.”

When Roberts asked what the catalyst was for him coming out publicly, Underwood responded, “I got into a place for me in my personal life that was dark and bad and I can list a bunch of different things but they’d all be excuses. But I think overall the reason why now is because I got to a place where I didn’t think I was ever going to share this. I would’ve rather died than say ‘I’m gay’ and I think that was sort of my wakeup call.” He also told Roberts he’d had suicidal thoughts tied to his sexual orientation before, but since publicly coming out, he no longer feels that way.

Underwood starred in season 23 of The Bachelor in 2019, becoming known as the first virgin to be Bachelor on the franchise. His season didn’t end in a proposal; instead, Underwood gave his final rose to Cassie Randolph. After their relationship ended in May 2020, Randolph claimed Underwood had been stalking her, and she ultimately filed a restraining order against him.