Colton Underwood talks early connections and the locker room

Colton shared new details about his coming out journey!

Colton Underwood via Instagram Instagram (@coltonunderwood)

The single person And Colton comes out Star Colton Underwood recently opened up about his coming out journey.

During an interview on the Call her daddy podcast hosted by Alexandra Cooper, the Beyond the edge Winner got candid and shared new details about how he navigated high school, his football career, and his appearances on dating shows. Specifically, Underwood revealed tidbits of information that hadn’t necessarily been made public on such a large platform before.

Colton noticed that he was attracted to men in high school.

Colton Underwood on Colton's coming out

Netflix

Cooper asked Underwood when he started noticing her attraction to men. He explained:

“So at six (years old), I knew I was different. I wasn’t like the other kids. I wasn’t like the other boys in my class. And I couldn’t really understand that until high school… to really understand this, like, “Hey, I’m attracted to men and other guys.” So I don’t think there was one thing in particular when I was six.”

He continued, “It’s so hard, yet so simple, to explain. Because just like you’re straight, I kind of knew something was different. But I couldn’t really be that because growing up I went to Catholic elementary school too, boys were supposed to like girls, and girls were supposed to like boys, and that’s supposedly the word of God.

Underwood also remarked on how much he has evolved even over the past few years, saying:

“There (were) all these signals from a young age, honestly…and I wasn’t like that last year when I first came out, but I’ve got a year under my belt now to really sit down and figure out why. I feel like I was almost reprogrammed into the circumstances I grew up in, to really try to reconnect and it just didn’t work.

He reflected on how locker rooms can be both “homophobic” and “homoerotic.”

Underwood’s football career helped pay for his education and, subsequently, his college education. It made him feel like he couldn’t risk missing these opportunities.

“At the time, there (were) no other gay football players. And in college, I had a very good career. I didn’t want to distract the team and the coaches… and others players in the locker room were “It’s very nice. I say it, I think, in the show too: the locker room is extremely homophobic, but it’s also very homoerotic.”

He continued: “It’s like slapping each other, you know, commenting on everyone’s dicks, and then all of a sudden being called a whore and a faggot and all these derogatory (terms). You’re like, ‘Wait.’ And especially for someone in the closet, you say, “This is really messed up.”“

Cooper then asked Underwood to elaborate on his experiences in the locker room. “Hide,” he remembers. “I wouldn’t shower after practice because I was afraid of getting horny in the locker room or in the shower. And, I mean, I was never really attracted to the people I was with. played, nor by the coaches, so it’s a bit silly to even say that. But I wanted to avoid any chance of being eliminated. So I wouldn’t shower with the rest of the team, I would leave. would change in a corner or in a stand.

THE Colton comes out star added:

“There (were) a lot of things I did differently than other players because I felt like I had to do it. I just didn’t want people to start asking questions, you know? I ate, drank , slept and “

Colton had a hard time explaining why he was still a virgin (because he wasn’t).

Colton Underwood on The Bachelor

ABC

During his life, Underwood often relied on the excuse that he was totally focused on his career in order to defuse questions about relationships and/or sex. However, the matter became much more complicated when he made his reality TV debut. The Bachelorette.

“I have never been able to explain The single person fans like why I was a virgin,” he recalls. “I never (could) give a good enough reason because…I wasn’t. (…) I think people might read that a little bit, but I never wanted to give them an excuse to call me gay at that point. Because that’s the next thing: when you hear that someone is a virgin, it’s, “Oh, because they’re gay.” Or maybe they’re questioning things. And it’s like I can’t be the Bachelor and sit in front of America and say I struggle with my sexuality like that. There isn’t that kind of space for this audience and for this position. I knew that, (and) that’s why I signed up.”

Underwood then opened up about how he dealt with his stay The single person franchise as a form of “conversion therapy” for himself.

Colton started dating men when he was 21.

Underwood revealed that her first relationship with a man happened when she was 21. “Literally on my 21st birthday,” he noted. “But I will say this: I have only dated men when I was single. There has never been a time when I have been in a serious relationship.”

THE Call her daddy the host asked if Underwood felt nervous about past relationships resurfacing after his casting The single person franchise. “I was terrified of being the Bachelor because I was like, “Oh my God, now my face is plastered everywhere”” he said, noting that he was 26 when he directed his own season of The single person.

Cooper brought up the fact that Underwood’s past relationships could have outed him after he became famous, which he said was a possibility.

“There was a lot of anxiety and sleepless nights,” he said. “Either I was lucky or I was very careful. (…) (But), to be honest with you, a lot of the men I slept with were, I think, “straight” too in their real lives. They were all pretty closeted themselves so I don’t think a man was going to come after me because they would too.

Underwood clarified:

“And it wasn’t a ton of men. It was like a few that, you know, never had my real name. They never… it’s like, how much of that was scary and secretive.”

He believes a “Bachelor” producer found out he was gay and kept it a secret.

Colton Underwood on The Bachelor

ABC

Cooper later asked if, after being launched The single personUnderwood feared that producers would dig into his past and discover that he was gay.

“I was very, very worried and very worried,” he replied. “I heard a rumor though that one of the producers eventually found out that I had actually slept with a man, but he kept it a secret or took care of it. I don’t know, I can’t checking it out. Obviously, it was terrifying too.

Underwood added: “It was also hard for me because I felt a lot of shame (for being gay), but I also felt shame for lying and cheating, but I couldn’t really be honest to get over that with people. (…) I think if I had been frank and honest from the start, people would have supported and accepted it.”

Colton revealed why he decided to do Netflix’s “Coming Out Colton” documentary series.

Colton Underwood on Colton's Coming Out

Netflix

“I went back and forth about whether I was going to do it that way or not,” Underwood said of signing on to Netflix. Colton comes out docuseries. “Mainly because… I obviously had a lot of anxiety from the shows I did.”

He continued: “But when I really sat down and thought about my life, and what really made me hate myself – to hate my actions, to hate the situation that I found myself in – it was because of all these things that happened in my past I never had anyone to look up to (and) be like, “Oh wait, that’s what I’m experiencing.” I think ultimately that’s kind of why I documented my coming out: going through my upbringing in church and then playing football. All these really masculine, toxic, masculine situations that practically put me in the closet for a long time.

“I brought a lot of this on myself,” Underwood added. “In no way has this (coming out) process been (a way) to shift blame or focus. I’m taking ownership where I think it’s important. But I’m asking and I’m also calls out two communities that really have a lot going on and are sort of the last in our society to really be accepted: and that’s church and sports.”

You can listen to the full episode of Call her daddy with Colton Underwood below.