Everyone who watched Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor knew him as the virgin bachelor, something that doesn’t often go hand in hand with these reality dating franchises.

Now, Underwood is opening up about how that abstinence sparked rumors in high school about him being gay.

In his new book hitting the shelves at the end of March, Underwood admits that bullying was a big part of his school experience, from the time he was young. But when he became a teenager and didn’t start fooling around with girls when the rest of his classmates did, he says a rumor began circulating that he was actually gay.

“It was one of those things where you hear something so often, you start believing it,” he writes. “I thought, maybe I am gay. The captain of the football team should be having sex and drinking, right? But I wasn’t.”

Underwood’s path to questioning his sexuality may seem a little strange to some — the former Bachelor star has been open about how his choice to remain a virgin is tied to his Christian faith, rather than just not having found the right woman yet.

But everyone has their own journey, and Underwood has said his included googling “Am I gay?” even as early as grade school.

“I didn’t know who I was. And I come from an athletic family, so it was always, ‘Move on, you’re good,’” he says. “So that threw me.

“In high school, when I was struggling with my sexuality, I’m not going to talk to my parents about it. So I internalized it.”

Underwood ultimately left The Bachelor in a relationship with contestant Cassie Randolph, and is currently recovering from COVID-19 at her family’s home.

His book, The First Time, will be available March 31.