Colton Underwood On Coming Out And Trying To Undo Wrongs
Image: Colton Underwood Image: Instagram,
Colton Underwood, the former star of the US franchise of The Bachelor, who came out as gay in April 2021, has a release date set for his upcoming Netflix docu-series Coming Out Colton.
The six-episode series will premiere on December 3 and follows Underwood as he embarks on his journey as a newly Out gay man.
Underwood, who is dating political strategist Jordan C Brown, 38, told GMA’s Roberts, ”I’m still nervous, but yeah, It’s been a journey for sure. I’m emotional, but in such a good, happy, positive way. I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life, and that means the world to me.”
Underwood Comes Out on Camera
Underwood, 29, promoted the six-episode series in an Instagram post saying, “This image was captured moments after I came out to my dad, which was one of the most meaningful parts of my coming out journey. I’m looking forward to sharing more of my story with you including the lessons I’ve been learning along the way.”
Underwood, in an interview with The New York Times, said, “I’ve lived my life so publicly straight, and I ran from a community I’ve belonged to my entire life.”
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“I knew there was going to be a lot of people who didn’t understand. Maybe at the end of these six episodes, people still don’t understand. But at least I’ve tried to undo the wrongs,” Underwood said.
Gus Kenworthy As The Gay Life Coach
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Guests on the series, appearing as “friends and mentors,” include former football player Michael Sam, and CMT host Cody Alan, both of whom are Out, as well as actress Fran Drescher.
Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy, also appears, serving as a kind of gay ‘life coach’ to Underwood.
In an interview with HollywoodLife, Kenworthy said, “I’m just offering insight and support where I can because I also came out publicly and had a bit of a platform prior to that. I feel like I’ve walked that path, certainly more so than he has, so I tried to offer advice and support in ways that I could.”
Kenworthy told the Advocate,“God, please, please, please don’t put it in quotes as ‘gay guide.’ In actuality, I’m kind of just his friend.”
“It put a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths, and mine included, because that’s not what I signed up for,” Kenworthy said. “I don’t want to come across as if I’m this holier-than-thou educator that knows everything. I don’t. I’m still learning myself.”
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“And so I want to try and pass on some of that knowledge to make it a smoother road for him and to help open his eyes because he does have a platform, and he does have an amazing opportunity to connect with a lot of people,” Kenworthy told the Advocate.
Coming Out Colton Attracts Controversy
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The series has attracted considerable controversy since it was first announced by Netflix and even generated an online petition, which attracted 35,000 signatures, to have the show cancelled.
Underwood was criticised for the fact he was a traditionally handsome, privileged, white man who was perceived to be making a cash grab based upon his coming out, and that his whole appearance on The Bachelor was just a ruse in order to seek fame.
Others questioned whether the timing was an effort to quell the controversy surrounding Underwood’s previous legal issues with former Bachelor co-star Cassie Rudolph.
Underwood’s father, spoke to the New York Times about his son’s decision to make Coming Out Colton: “Am I going to say it’s for fame? No. Did he come out on TV for money? Sure. But who in reality entertainment doesn’t leverage their life and put it all out there for money?”
“I’m not saying I’m upset about it,” Underwood’s father said about his son coming out to him on camera, “but I would have preferred it had been done differently.”
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In an opinion piece which appeared in the Advocate, John Casey wrote,” “What Underwood did with his coming out story, and the revelation about his sexuality, was contrived and motivated by money. Plain and simple… Underwood came out to make a buck…”
“Underwood has failed women and the LGBTQ+ community by deriding our coming out process, particularly for those of us who took on great peril to be ourselves. Who among us thought that when we came out, we’d have a golden parachute waiting for us? That coming out was the road to new found success? How many of us believed that by exposing ourselves, we were moving on to stardom simply because we announced we were gay?” wrote Casey.
Underwood is the first ever Bachelor star to come out as gay after appearing on the program.
Underwood On The Bachelor
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A former pro-football player with the Oakland Raiders and the Philadelphia Eagles, Underwood first came to prominence as a contestant on the 14th season of the Bachelorette, and a follow-up appearance in Bachelor in Paradise. Underwood, whose family is politically conservative, professed to be a virgin when he appeared on The Bachelorette and later on The Bachelor.
Underwood was named as the star of the 23rd season of The Bachelor in 2019.
“Maybe you’re the first gay Bachelor and we don’t even know!” joked Out actor Billy Eichner who guest starred on Underwood’s season.
Underwood went on to have a relationship with Cassie Randolph, the winner of his season. However, after dating for only a few months, Randolph had a restraining order filed against Underwood claiming he was harassing and stalking her and had attached a tracking device to her car.
The restraining order was later dropped.
Underwood, the First Bachelor to Come Out
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Underwood came out publicly on Good Morning America, telling Robin Roberts ”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.”
“I’ve thought a lot about this too, of, ‘Do I regret being the Bachelor and do I regret handling it the way that I did?’ I do. I do think I could’ve handled it better, I’ll say that,” Underwood told Roberts.
Underwood’s deceleration he was gay, met with a less-than-positive reception as many questioned not only the timing of his announcement but the circumstances which surrounded it.
The controversy only grew when Netflix announced they had signed Underwood to make Coming Out Colton.
Underwood the Victim of Blackmail
The first person Underwood disclosed his sexuality to was his publicist, following a blackmail attempt. Underwood had been spotted at a gay spa in Los Angeles and an unidentified person contacted Underwood claiming they had taken nude photos which they were going to release to the public.
“I’ll just say it. I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed. Nobody knows I was blackmailed,” Underwood told Variety in an interview in May.
“I knew that out of anybody in my world, my publicist wasn’t going to ruin me.”
