Entertainment
Former Bachelor Colton Underwood reveals he came out after being blackmailed for visiting a gay spa
Former The Bachelor star Colton Underwood has opened up about the events which led to him coming out, revealing he was blackmailed after visiting a gay spa.
The reality star – who made headlines when he revealed he is gay on Good Morning America last month – got candid in an interview with Variety as he explained the reason why he first came out to his publicist.
The former NFL star explained that he visited a spa that caters to gay men in Los Angeles last year ‘just to look’ while he was still trying to comprehend and explore his sexuality.
He then received an email from an unidentified person who claimed to have nude pictures of him from the spa visit and threatened to out him to the press.
Colton stated: ‘I’ll just say it. I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed. Nobody knows I was blackmailed.’
The star stated that he forwarded the email to his publicist, Alex Spieller, in a ‘panic of paranoia’ and this forced the pair to have an honest conversation about his sexual orientation.
‘I knew that out of anybody in my world, my publicist wasn’t going to ruin me,’ Colton claimed.
During the interview, the reality star also spoke about his breakup from Bachelor winner Cassie Randolph and the backlash he received after coming out.
The star’s GMA interview took place months after Cassie filed – and then dropped her request – for a restraining order against Colton during to ‘stalking’ behavior.
Due to a joint agreement with Cassie, Colton was limited on what he could say but he wanted to make it clear that he did not ‘physically abuse’ his ex.
He stressed: ‘I did not physically touch or physically abuse Cassie in any way, shape or form.
‘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.’
Colton continued: ‘Controlling situations to try to grasp at any part of the straight fantasy that I was trying to live out was so wrong.’
He explained that after Randolph broke up with him, he was a ‘dark place’ because he realized his last straight relationship was over, meaning he’d have to face his true reality.
Colton apologized again to Cassie and her family as he stated: ‘It’s not who I am as a human being, and it’s not how I carry myself. If there was anything I could do to take more ownership, I would.
‘But also, out of respect to her, I don’t want to get into the details. 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. I’m sorry, and I want her to know that I hope she has the best, most beautiful life.’
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