Colton Underwood Was Blackmailed Into Coming Out With Gay Spa Pics

The Bachelor star Colton Underwood made waves when he unexpectedly came out as gay earlier this year.

"I've ran from myself for a long time. I've hated myself for a long time," said the 29-year-old former football player. "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."

And in a new feature with Variety, Underwood reveals he was blackmailed into coming out. "I’ll just say it," he said. "I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed. Nobody knows I was blackmailed."

Underwood reveals he went to a gay spa sometime last year.

"Last year, while living in Los Angeles, he secretly visited a spa known for catering to gay clientele," the story reads. "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. Underwood never saw the alleged photos and explains he was at the spa 'just to look,' saying he 'should have never been there.' 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."

That was when Underwood decided to come out. "I knew that out of anybody in my world, my publicist wasn’t going to ruin me," he said.

So they took the truth and spun it into their own story. Underwood shared his truth with Robin Roberts last month and it was promptly announced that he was in the midst of the production of his own reality for Netflix, described as "an unscripted series with multiple episodes, focusing on Colton living his life publicly as a gay man," with out Olympian Gus Kenworthy appearing in the show "acting as a guide, of sorts, for Underwood."

An online petition calling for the show's cancellation is going around due to Underwood's alleged stalking of his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Randolph. "He placed a tracker on her car, sent her and her friends anonymous threatening texts, and was even seen standing outside her window extremely late in the night, resulting in her brother attempting to de-escalate the situation," the Change.org petition reads. Though Randolph's restraining order was dropped against Underwood in September of 2020, the petition's supporters believe "he does not deserve a platform in any way. Regardless of his sexuality, Colton should not be given a platform as a result of his abusive, manipulative, and dangerous behavior." 

It currently has over 35,000 signatures. 

"I want this interview to be the last time I address her, because it’s not fair for her to have her name in articles every time I talk," Underwood said in the new article. "I’m sorry, and I want her to know that I hope she has the best, most beautiful life.”

"I never want people to think that I’m coming out to change the narrative, or to brush over and not take responsibility for my actions, and now that I have this gay life that I don’t have to address my past as a straight man," he continued. "Controlling situations to try to grasp at any part of the straight fantasy that I was trying to live out was so wrong."