Former Bachelor Colton Underwood has already opened up about how he used to question his sexuality because of how rumors about him being gay started in high school, but now the reality dating star is also opening up about how his appearance on the popular TV franchise helped him realize that he is, in fact, straight.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight promoting his new memoir The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV, the 28-year-old reveals how going on the long-running dating show helped confirm his own sexuality to himself.
"[The show taught me] that I'm straight and I'm very, very attracted to Cassie [Randolph] and women—but it would have been OK if it would have been the other way too," he told ET about realizing he was straight and his love for his Bachelor co-star Cassie Randolph. "I think that's the biggest message I have for people."
Underwood also talked more about the gay rumors he faced during his high school football years, and how his parents would have been supportive of him no matter what.
"There was a rumor going around my high school that I was gay because I broke up with one of my girlfriends at the time," he recalls. "It even got to my mom, where my mom pulled me aside and said, 'You know what? We'd still love you if you were gay.' I was like, 'I appreciate that, but I gotta figure this out.' It was a little awkward."
He continued:
"There was questions there, and I either internalized it or moved forward with football. And going on The Bachelor was a way for me to not be able to run away from a relationship, not to be scared, and to open up. I'm so grateful for the franchise for helping me grow, but I continue to have moments of self-reflection to realize, 'Hey, maybe this is why I am the way I am.'"
About opening up about his sexuality in his new book, he concluded: "If anybody takes anything from this or is going through this, if I help one young man or one young woman go through something that they're struggling with—to let them know that they're not alone—then I consider the book a huge success."
