Former “The Bachelor” star Colton Underwood is getting candid about his sexuality. In a new interview, the reality TV star and father of one admitted to previously having sexual encounters with married, straight men, noting that he believed their hook-up sessions would stay private because they both had a lot at stake. Elsewhere, in the interview, Underwood, who recently finished his stint on Peacock’s “The Traitors,” discussed being labeled “The Virgin Bachelor,” revealing that he was nervous people would look into his personal life as a result.
On the Tuesday, June 16, episode of “We Need to Talk,” Underwood opened up about navigating his life prior to coming out as gay in 2021. Speaking with the podcast host, Underwood admitted to “experimenting” with guys, hoping to better understand what he was feeling.
“I was careful on how I did everything,” he said.
In order to protect himself, Underwood said that he only hooked up with “married men.” He added, “[Married] ‘straight’ men.”
According to Underwood, while he was in the closet, he followed this one rule. “… that would be the only time I would ever hook up with men was if they were married… because they had more to lose than I did,” he said.
Colton Underwood Looks Back On Being Labeled ‘The Virgin Bachelor’ During His Run On Reality TV
Before becoming one of the most-talked-about reality stars of the last decade, Underwood played football at Illinois State before joining the practice squad of several NFL teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders.
After hanging up his cleats for good, Underwood joined the world of unscripted television, landing a spot on Becca Kufrin’s season of “The Bachelorette.” A year later, he was leading season 23 of “The Bachelor” in 2019.
On the “We Need to Talk” podcast, Underwood said that he wished he were more “vulnerable” and open about his struggles with his sexuality while filming the iconic dating series. “I think there could have been something just interesting in that conversation,” he said.
Underwood wasn’t exactly thrilled about his storyline on “The Bachelor” being about his virginity. However, that’s what the producers rolled with. “… I hated it ’cause I didn’t want that pressure, and then I also didn’t want people digging in because at that time I had hooked up with men,” he said.
Colton Underwood Said There Were ‘Many Reasons’ Why He Was Still A Virgin
Underwood’s struggle with his sexuality wasn’t the only reason he was a virgin at the time. According to him, his faith played a big role in that. Additionally, the reality star didn’t want to share more details about his personal life because he was still trying to learn about himself, revealing that he believed that if he slept with a woman, he’d become straight.
“I just was so good at convincing myself that the next step I will become straight. I need to get engaged. I need to get married. I need to lose my virginity. All of these different things were sort of steps to becoming straight,” he said.
Underwood Came Out As Gay To Robin Roberts In 2021
Underwood revealed that he was a gay man during an emotional sit-down interview with “Good Morning America” mainstay Robin Roberts in 2021.
“I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time,” he said. “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.”
Another Celebrity Recently Came Out As Gay After Years Of Living In The Closet
According to a previous report from The Blast, rock singer Caleb Shomo recently opened up about the journey he underwent to accept himself as a “proudly gay man.”
While speaking with “Vanderpump Rules” alum Katie Maloney on her podcast, “Disrespectfully,” Shomo also recalled the moment he told his wife of 14-years that he was part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I was just bawling my f-cking eyes out, trying so hard to verbalize,” he said. “And I really struggle to verbalize things, and this is obviously such an intense thing, and I’m feeling so nervous and so scared in the situation that it was really, really difficult to verbalize, and I didn’t verbalize it very well.”