Social media lit up with accusations that Underwood was monetising his coming-out story. Colton Underwood's announcement that he was gay coincided with news that he was filming a Netflix reality show about his new life. His announcement that he was gay coincided with news that he was filming a Netflix reality show about his new life. Seen through the prism of reality TV, social media, sports and faith, and as someone who was raised with conservative values, he suddenly found himself mired in controversy. At one time, coming out of the closet was deemed a career killer, but shows like The Real World, Survivor and the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, now rebooted on Netflix, led to a profound, positive transformation in how gay people are perceived, and helped bring about progressive changes to LGBTQ civil rights.Īs new generations of millennials and Gen Zers have grown up with LGBTQ friends and role models, gay Americans have attained the right to marry, and queerness has become more mainstream in media, as proven in shows like HBO's high school hit Euphoria and essentially half of the characters in the Ryan Murphy universe.Ī gay Bachelor, though? Underwood's coming out, so soon after he'd entered into millions of viewers' homes as the poster boy of fairy-tale heterosexuality - the Ken doll-like star of a major dating franchise - touched a nerve.
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Television - especially reality TV - has revolutionised how LGBTQ people are represented in popular culture. "I knew that out of anybody in my world, my publicist wasn't going to ruin me," Underwood explains. READ MORE: Bachelor Colton Underwood says he didn't tell Cassie Randolph he is gay, was trying to 'hold on to being straight' The unidentified sender threatened to "out" him in the press, and in a panic of paranoia, Underwood forwarded the email to his publicist, Alex Spieller, which forced him to finally have an honest conversation about his sexual orientation. Underwood never saw the alleged photos and explains he was at the spa "just to look," saying he "should have never been there." Shortly thereafter, he received an anonymous email, which has been reviewed by Variety, from someone claiming to have taken his nude photos at the venue. According to him, last year, while living in Los Angeles, he secretly visited a spa known for catering to gay clientele. Underwood takes a deep breath, as he tells this story for the first time. Nobody knows I was blackmailed."Ĭolton Underwood was convinced he'd spend his entire life pretending to be a straight man.
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"I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed. "I'll just say it," Underwood reveals on a recent afternoon, still adjusting to his new life as an openly gay man.
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The confession was prompted not by liberation but out of fear.
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After hiding his attraction to men since his early teens, the 29-year-old former NFL player initially disclosed his sexuality to someone else a year ago: his publicist. The television personality was convinced he'd spend his entire life pretending to be a straight man - pushed into that direction by his church and small-town, conservative upbringing in Illinois.īut last month, Underwood made national headlines by coming out to Robin Roberts in a bombshell Good Morning America interview, shattering the heteronormative conventions of ABC's top-rated reality dating juggernaut franchise. After all, he'd starred as The Bachelor in 2019 to scout for a wife on national television, searching for love among 30 aspiring brides-to-be.
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Colton Underwood didn't plan on ever telling the world that he was gay.