Colton Underwood: I came out after getting blackmailed

Variety

The former Bachelor star says his decision to announce he is gay last month was made out of fear, not liberation. “I’ll just say it,” Underwood tells Variety. “I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed. Nobody knows I was blackmailed.” Underwood says he began getting blackmailed after secretly visiting a gay spa "just to look." Soon after, he says he received an anonymous email claiming to have a nude photo of him at the spa and threatening to "out" him in the press. That led to his decision to come out publicly. Since coming out, Underwood says he's received death threats. Underwood also addressed the Cassie Randolph abuse scandal, telling Variety: “I did not physically touch or physically abuse Cassie in any way, shape or form." He adds: “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. Controlling situations to try to grasp at any part of the straight fantasy that I was trying to live out was so wrong.” Underwood also confirmed he's filming a Netflix reality show. In fact, the show originated as a reality show following him and Randolph as friendly exes in Los Angeles before her restraining order. When the same production company learned about Underwood being gay, he was pitched on a reality show about his coming out journey. Underwood thinks his story as a closeted gay Christian football player could help other people. The Netflix series will show Underwood coming out to his family, including his father, who tells Variety he suspected his son was gay in high school. “First, I put that on myself — what was I doing that he felt he couldn’t open up to me?” Scott Underwood says. “But Colton said, ‘I didn’t know what I was yet. I was still struggling.’” Scott Underwood hopes the Netflix show helps families struggling with their gay children.