The Bachelor star Colton Underwood revealed that he regrets not coming out as gay after Michael Sam became the first-ever openly gay athlete in the NFL. In the early 2010s, Colton was an up-and-coming football player with big dreams and aspirations. He played defensive end for Illinois State, later for the San Diego Chargers. In the years that followed, Colton was placed on the practice squad of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Oakland Raiders. With such an impressive and long resume, Colton was called an NFL star when he made his reality TV debut in 2018.
Bachelor Nation first got to know Colton Underwood when he was featured on Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette. Colton placed fourth overall, but the fans loved his charisma and storyline so much that producers chose to make him the lead of The Bachelor season 23, which aired in January 2019. During his season, Colton was introduced as a 26-year-old former professional football player from Washington, Illinois who had stayed a virgin for religious reasons. Alas, Colton sent Bachelor Nation ablaze when he revealed in April 2021 that he was, in truth, a gay man who had been struggling with coming out for many years.
Now, Colton Underwood is revealing that he regrets not coming out as gay sooner, particularly after seeing Michael Sam gather the courage to open up about his sexuality and become the first openly gay NFL athlete in history. During the interview for his Variety cover story, Colton opened up about his feelings at the time: "I had the opportunity in 2014 when I entered the draft. Michael Sam came out." Colton then got choked up and remarked that he wasn't brave enough at the time to also come out in support of Michael Sam. According to Colton, "The football and athletic community is not ready for gay people," and he heard plenty of horrible things in the locker rooms about Michael Sam being gay.
Unfortunately, Michael Sam's corageous coming out in 2014 seems to have had an opposite effect on Colton Underwood, who chose to hide even more after witnessing the reaction that Michael was getting from the football community. Colton recalled, "If anything, Michael Sam coming out and being so public about it put me in the closet even further because I didn't want to be like Michael, in the sense that I didn't want it to be negative or bad." Alas, Colton has now personally apologized to Michael, as he regrets not being brave enough at the time to share his own story in support of his NFL peer.
The fans of The Bachelor have been closely following Colton Underwood's journey since he came out in April 2021. Colton is getting his own Netflix docu-series sometime soon, but some fans are still waiting for him to address the things that he did to Cassie Randolph during their relationship.
Sources: Variety