Bachelor Nation‘s Colton Underwood lived in fear of people finding out that he was gay, so he hooked up with people who had a lot to lose … married men.
During an appearance on the We Need to Talk podcast, the former star of The Bachelor reflected on navigating his sexuality while keeping his hookups hidden from the world.
“I was very careful, even when I was physically experimenting with guys and trying to, like, figure myself out. I was so careful about how I did everything.”
“To protect myself,” Colton continued, “I would only hook up with married men. [Married] ‘straight’ men. So that was sort of my rule that I would never break. When I was in the closet, that would be the only time I would ever hook up with men was if they were married. They had more to lose than I did.”
“If they tried to ruin my career, they had a whole family that they’d be risking as well. So it’s a messed-up thing to think through, but it was a form of self-preservation. It was just like a way to protect myself.”
The former NFL player turned The Traitors US contestant explained that his religious upbringing and internal struggle with his sexuality both contributed to his decision to remain a virgin.
“Maybe, if I have sex with a girl, I will become straight.” Colton believed getting engaged, married, and losing his virginity would help him become “straight.”
“What I was telling myself is, ‘This is going to force me [to be straight]. I’m going to be so publicly straight that I will never be able to be gay again.'”
Colton publicly came out as gay in 2021. He is now married to political strategist Jordan C. Brown-Underwood.
