Watch: Former ‘Bachelor’ Colton Underwood Comes out as Gay

(UPI) — Former Bachelor star Colton Underwood has come out as gay. The 29-year-old television personality and former football player went public about his sexuality during Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning America.

“Obviously, this year’s been a lot for a lot of people and it’s probably made a lot of people look at themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are,” Underwood told GMA host Robin Roberts.

“I’ve ran from myself for a long time, I’ve hated myself for a long time. I’m gay,” he said. “I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it, and the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know.”

Underwood said he is now “the happiest and healthiest” he’s ever been in his life after going through a “dark” period where he experienced suicidal thoughts as he struggled with his sexuality.

“I got to a place where I didn’t think I would ever share this. I would have rather died than say I’m gay, and I think that was sort of my wakeup call,” he said.

Underwood is a former football player who appeared in Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette in 2018. He later starred in The Bachelor Season 23, which ended with him choosing Cassie Randolph but not proposing. The couple split in May 2020.

During the GMA interview, Underwood said he was in love with Randolph and apologized for how their relationship ended.

“I’d like to say sorry for how things ended. I messed up. I made a lot of bad choices,” Underwood said.

“I would just say that I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart,” he added. “I wish that it wouldn’t have happened the way that it did. I wish that I had been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anybody else.”