The Bachelor star Colton Underwood took to Good Morning America to announce that he is gay. The star of the reality series’ 14th season made headlines during his Bachelor tenure for being “the virgin Bachelor,” a status he credited to his Christian faith. However, he now says that coming out has brought him “closer to God.”
“I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time,” Underwood said. “And 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,” he said.
Underwood attended a Catholic high school and say that he grew up believing being gay was a sin. “I used to wake up in the morning and pray for him to take the gay away,” he told GMA‘s Robin Roberts. “I used to pray for him to change me.” He says he now knows that his relationship with God is not a “conditional” one.
It’s another chapter in Underwood’s story, which has been interesting even by reality television standards. He chose Bachelor contestant Cassie Randolph during his time on the show, but the two separated and Randolph even filed a restraining order against Underwood. She later dismissed the order.
Christians often appear on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, and the show enjoys delving into the ways their spiritual life does and does not inform their relational one. In season 15 of The Bachelorette, contestant Hannah Brown’s Christianity became a defining character trait.