The Bachelor star Colton Underwood reveals he's gay and that hiding caused suicidal thoughts: 'I ran from myself for a long time, hating myself for a long time, and ... I’m gay'.

by Thinus Ferreira

Colton Underwood(29) is gay, the star of season 23 of the American love reality series The Bachelor said on Wednesday in an emotional TV interview on the Good Morning America show on ABC in the United States, revealing that hiding his sexuality led him down a "dark and bad" path and that he suicidal thoughts.

Colton Underwood was famously a virgin when the 26-year old was chosen as the next bachelor for The Bachelor, causing the expected drama when he jumped a fence and fled during one of the episodes of his season.

Colton Underwood on Wednesday told Robin Roberts that "I ran from myself for a long time, hating myself for a long time, and ... I’m gay".

"I came to terms with that earlier this year and I have been processing it. And the next step in all of this was sort of to let people know. I’m still nervous, but it’s been a journey for sure."

JUST IN: Former “Bachelor” star @Colton Underwood speaks his truth and comes out to @robinroberts: “I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it… I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life.” https://t.co/PoYJUAPBpA pic.twitter.com/isP7SptUu7

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2021

Colton Underwood said that "I'm emotional, but I'm emotional in such a good, happy, positive way. I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life and that means the world to me."

In the interview, he said that hiding his sexuality led him down a "dark and bad" path that included suicidal thoughts. He said that he realised that he was "different" at the age of 6 but "couldn't process" it until he was in high school - and that it later in life led him to thoughts of suicide.

"I got into a place for me in my personal life that was dark and bad."

"I can list a bunch of different things but they’d all be excuses. I think overall the reason why now is because I got to a place where I didn't think I was ever going to share this. I would rather have died than say I'm gay, and that was sort of my wake up call."

"There was a moment in L.A. where I woke up, and I didn’t think I was going to wake up."

"I didn’t have the intentions of waking up - but I did. For me, that was my wake-up call of, like, 'This is your life. Take back control.' You know, driving my car close to a cliff, like, 'Oh, if this goes off the cliff, it’s not that big of a deal.' I don't feel that anymore."

Colton Underwood said that "I thought a lot about this: Do I regret being The Bachelor and handling it the way that I did?"

"I do think I could have handled it better, I do say that. I just wish I wouldn't have dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was. I genuinely mean that but I also at the same time I can say I'm sorry to all of those women, I can also thank them, and without The Bachelor franchise, I don't know if this would have ever come out."

In South Africa M-Net (DStv 101) has so far had two seasons of The Bachelor South Africa, followed by a first season of The Bachelorette South Africa, with Qiniso Van Damme as the bachelorette, that is currently broadcast on the channel.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 18 February 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ How the Comcast voice remote takes customer-convenience to the next level.
How long before MultiChoice follows the American pay-TV operator with a DStv voice remote that listens to your commands like an Alexa? With the remarkable remote control, young and old can just say "Watch Paw Patrol", or "Play sports".

■ Chicago police now believe that Jussie Smollett from Empire on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) paid two former brothers suspects Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo from Nigeria - one who has appeared on Empire, to attack him and that Jussie Smollett orchestrated and planned his own attack.
■ Police say Jussie Smollett paid Empire on FOX extras $3 500 to stage the attack on him.

■ Ola played a prison inmate during the second season of Empire, while Abel (the other brother's nickname) says he also worked on Empire. And both brothers through their lawyer now admit that they know Jussie Smollett.
■ Jussie Smollett says in a statement he's "victimised by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators".
■ Jussie Smollett still hasn't talked to the police again after new "developments".
■ Empire is killing off a major character - FOX insists it isn't Jussie Smollett.


■ SABC senior managers, executive producers and a radio station manager the first to face disciplinary hearings after being implicated in the SABC sexual harassment inquiry report.

■ Zambia's government and Zambia's hypocritical Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) is banning gays while promoting incent and infidelity after forcing MultiChoice Zambia and Zambezi Magic to censor Lusaka Hustle.

■ Is Netflix forcing you to binge-watch shows?

■ The Bachelor's Colton Underwood says he was grabbed inappropriately at an event and that he didn't sign up to be a piece of meat or a zoo animal.

■ Woman throws policeman with TV set.

■ When did reality TV become ... nice?

■ The dead girl trope: Netflix's love of female victims.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 17 January 2019.

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■ The SABC's hypocrisy over R.Kelly's music.

■ Iranian state television anchor arrested after landing in America.
Press TV's Marzieh Hashemi arrested on undisclosed charges.

■ The pay-TV bundle strikes back: How video streaming prices caught up with tradition subscription television.
Rising prices mean streaming services cost as much as traditional satellite pay-TV.

■ Welcome to the era of video streaming bundles.

■ Watching your favourite TV show a million times isn't compulsive. It has a name now: Welcome to "comfort binge".

■ Family Guy seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) is phasing out the gay jokes.
"Some of the things we felt comfortable saying and joking about back then, we now understand is not acceptable."

■ Steve Carrell working with executive producer of The Office on a new workplace comedy series, Space Force for Netflix.

■ Netflix and its local video streaming rival Hotstar will both start to censor their content in India.
Self-censorship is an attempt to prevent censorship by India's government.

■ Users have problems with Netflix - beyond the latest price hike.
The original Netflix programming "tends to be hit or miss". And "endless scrolling" is awkward and tiring.
■ Netflix isn't raising prices in India - it can't afford to. It's already the most expensive streaming service there.

■ George R.R. Martin's science fiction horror series, Nightflyers, will become available on Netflix on 1 February.

■ Many people have no idea how much they're paying for Netflix.
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■ Uganda's speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga fawns over China and lavishes effuse praise on StarTimes for doing the African country's digital terrestrial television (DTT) switch.

■ Welcome to the new pay-TV world.
The user experience from new entrants is incredibly strong – it is fun, engaging and easy to interact with. The most successful operators have focused on emulating the best features and functionalities of the new market entrants to stay competitive.

■ World of Sport wrestling announces new deals, including with StarTimes in Africa.

■ Content classification changes coming to Britain.
To better protect people watching disturbing content on video streaming services.

■ Chinese censors ban male stars from being seen with earrings on TV.

■ Egyptian idiot: TV and films have given women the impression that they can refuse their husbands' call to bed.

■ First human rights TV channel promises to "give a voice to the voiceless".

■ The reality show Temptation Island hasn't changed. We have.
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■ Second season of Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix is less interesting.
■ Star Trek: Discovery - the technology won but Rodenberry's visionary society is lost.

■ Why is Colton Underwood always showering on The Bachelor?

■ Julia Roberts won't be back for the second season of Homecoming seen on Amazon Prime Video.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 11 January 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) admits it has underpaid thousands of temporary staffers for years.
"This error should not have occurred, and we apologise to any casual employee who has been underpaid."

■ MultiChoice's DStv Now is broken - and things don't look good.
Problems in Kenya and MultiChoice tells a customer: "We do not have the turnaround time yet for when the services will be back on."

■ Netflix interested in opening a production hub in Toronto, Canada.

■ People from Cameroon picket outside the SABC in Cape Town.

■ British pay-TV customers actually pay a "loyalty penalty" for staying with one company too long instead of switching.

■ German viewers are different: They continue to pay for traditional pay-TV while the country is also seeing massive growth in the use of video streaming services.
Germany also has one of the highest levels of smart TV ownership in Europe.

■ As Anson Mount takes over as Captain Pike and hopefully brings more stability to Star Trek: Discovery's second season, his command style will hopefully mark a return to classic Trek storytelling.


■ Mozambique arrests another journalist.
Amade Abubacar, working for the state-owned Radio e Televisao Comunitaria Nacedje de Macomia in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province, was grabbed by police at a bus stop while conducting interviews.


■ A 1950s TV show had a fear-mongering conman named Trump who wanted to build a wall.

■ A fishing boat from Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel (DStv 121) capsizes, killing 3 in notoriously violent waters.

■ Turkey in shock as horrifying family secrets unfold on live television - ending with the police showing up and arresting an entire family as the audience and presenter applause.

■ Has Netflix won the battle for your TV screen?

■ The abusive has-been Jeremy Clarkson formerly of Top Gear on the BBC, slams the BBC for "suffocating the life out of everything".
Forgetting that he tried to suffocate the life out of the Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon who he physically and verbally attacked in 2015.

■ beIN resumes transmission in Egypt two days after the pay-TV operator started a blackout over a carriage dispute with Egypt's CNE over the commercial terms of providing sports content.

■ Kevin Hunter, husband of Wendy of The Wendy Williams Show on BET (DStv 129) tore into talk show's staffers blaming them for the stories about his alleged philandering.
Staffers thought he was going to give them an update about Wendy's bad health. Instead Kevin ranted for almost an hour about the leaks coming out of the show to the press.

■ A shirtless AJ Kapa and Cole Sprouse of Riverdale seen on M-Net (DStv 101) get wet and wild during a male bonding vacation in New Zealand as they frolick in Lake Wakatipu.

■ The best future-focused science fiction film and TV coming in 2019.

■ Kit Harington of Game of Thrones seen on M-Net (DStv 101) tells GQ Australia that "everyone was broken" by the time filming on the upcoming 8th and final season wrapped.

■ The Sopranos at 20: Television learned the wrong lessons from The Sopranos.

■ Surviving R. Kelly and the unstoppable power of true-crime documentaries.

■ The Bachelor's focus on Colton Underwood's virginity shows a bigger problem.
This season highlights the strange lens through which we as a society view sex.

■ 11 bizarre reality shows that weren't too weird for TV.
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■ New American drama series, The Passage, is decent, at a time when decent might not be enough.

■ IMDb, the film and TV website owned by Amazon, is launching a free streaming video channel, IMDb Freedive, that will be available in the United States on its website.

■ Showmax slows everything down to 60fps for a derivative looking teaser trailer for its local drama series The Girl from St Agnes, copying MTV's Teen Wolf and Netflix's Elite with someone running through the woods and swimming in the school's pool.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 9 January 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Disney won't make big-budget like Star Wars movies for its own upcoming Disney+ streaming service that will be competing with Netflix.

■ Does Netflix have a cash flow problem?
Netflix's cash burn is becoming increasingly expensive.

■ Today's TV Mom is raising viewers for a more realistic world.

■ Bloomberg in advanced negotiations to start a business TV channel in Israel.

■ Not the end of the Sky News (DStv 402) campaign to make TV debates for politicians compulsory.

■ Censorship-rife Saudi Arabia where a killer is king plans to launch a streaming video service to rival Netflix.
MBC, the Middle East's largest broadcaster, is already working on new films and shows to feed the video service as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman grapples with the fallout from the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

■ There for you: A Friends inspired coffee shop is opening in Dubai.


■ Host Chris Harrison opens up about The Bachelor's latest "virgin season".
■ "We've never done anything like this!"
■ The Bachelor really wants you to know that Colton Underwood's a virgin.
■ Why is The Bachelor obsessed with virginity?
■ A sociologist explains why Colton Underwood's virginity is such a big deal.
■ The new The Bachelor is a virgin but the new season will be even more sex-obsessed than before.
■ Colton Underwood as the first virgin The Bachelor is in way over his head.


■ American weatherman Jeremy Kappell fired after saying "Martin Luther Coon Park" instead of "Martin Luther King Park" who says it was an accident.
■ He says  "I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words".
■ The same happened to the ESPN anchor Mike Greenberg in 2010 who wasn't fired.

26-year old virgin Colton Underwood announced as America's next The Bachelor.

America's ABC TV network has announced the 26-year old virgin, Colton Underwood as the next star of The Bachelor.

Colton Underwood, a former NFL player, awkwardly revealed to Becca Kufrin in the recently concluded season of The Bachelorette that he has never had sex before after which she left their romantic dinner date table and never returned. He ended third in the season.

During the midway "Men Tell All" episode, he became emotional and started crying, saying he was scared of making it public because he felt that people would think he's "less of a man" because he's still a virgin.

He told The Hollywood Reporter that "it was something that I hid and I lied about it a lot growing up in high school and in college due to sports".

"Just because you’re a virgin doesn’t mean you aren’t experienced in some way, and I know this is awkward to even talk about, but if people want talk about virginity, it’s not something where it’s like, ‘Oh, Keep your clothes on at all times.’ You can still be romantic, you can still be sexual and you can still be intimate in that part of the relationship."

Now he will get a chance to choose a possible wife with his virginity as the first virgin bachelor on the show ever, that will very likely feature prominently when the new 23rd season starts in January in America.

Colton Underwood told America's Good Morning America on which the announcement was made that he's looking for love and marriage: "That’s what I’m looking for … being engaged and then getting married shortly after that. I’m very excited. Third time’s the charm, that’s what they say, right? That’s what I’m hoping for!"

The Bachelor is shown in South Africa and Africa on M-Net's 1Magic (DStv 103) with M-Net that is also working on the first local South African version, The Bachelor South Africa for a debut in 2019 that is currently casting women for an as-yet-unannounced man.