No need for roses ever again. After coming out as a gay man on GMA this morning, former Bachelor lead Colton Underwood has secured his own Netflix reality series about this new stage of his personal life. Variety reports that Underwood will be starring in a multi-episode series that will focus on him “living his life publicly as a gay man,†which will also feature Olympic athlete Gus Kenworthy as a “guide of sorts†to Underwood. (What, was the extremely astute Billy Eichner unavailable?) Sources tell Variety that filming began prior to Underwood’s GMA interview, although it’s unclear what Netflix’s plans are for the release. In his introspective interview with Robin Roberts, Underwood revealed that he began to consider if he was gay at the age of 6, and ultimately came to terms with his sexuality during the pandemic.
“Obviously, this year has been a lot for a lot of people, and it’s probably made a lot of people look themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are and what they’ve been running from or what they’ve been putting off in their lives. For me, I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay,†he explained. “The next step in all of this was sort of letting people know. I’m still nervous, but yeah, it’s been a journey for sure.â€
Underwood also said that numerous “dark and bad†thoughts plagued his personal life over the past year, which included suicidal ideology. “I got to a place where I never thought I would share this,†he admitted. “I would have rather died than said, ‘I’m gay,’ and I think that was my wake-up call.†Prior to coming out, Underwood dated his winning Bachelor contestant, Cassie Randolph, for about two years. Their relationship ended last summer, with Randolph alleging in a September court filing that Underwood “stalked and harassed†her. She dropped a temporary restraining order in November.