Former ‘Bachelor’ Star Says He Came Out After Being Blackmailed

Former ‘Bachelor’ star Colton Underwood shares that he never planned to come out publicly as gay but was the victim of blackmail. From Variety:

According to him, last year, while living in Los Angeles, he secretly visited a spa known for catering to gay clientele. 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.

Colton Underwood: “Controlling situations to try to grasp at any part of the straight fantasy that I was trying to live out was so wrong.” https://t.co/gsrAcVPU1P

— Variety (@Variety) May 12, 2021

Variety

shares this interview with the former NFL player where he says he wishes he’d had a gay role model in football and regrets a lot of how things went down with his ex Cassie Randolph.