US Bachelor star Colton Underwood comes out as gay

A former star of reality show The Bachelor in the US has revealed that he is gay.

Colton Underwood starred in Season 23 of the popular reality show, in which he had to choose a potential wife out of dozens of women vying for his affection.

The 29-year-old, who is a former American football player who tried out with NFL teams, came out as gay on morning television on Wednesday morning.

“I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time,” Underwood told Good Morning America.

“I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it.

“The next step in all of this was sort of letting people know.”

Underwood originally appeared on the spin-off show The Bachelorette after his professional football career ended in 2016.

He was later announced as to be lead of The Bachelor and chose contestant Cassie Randolph, but ultimately did not propose to her. The pair split last year.

Underwood said he finally got to a place where he could be honest with himself after the pandemic-hit 2020, a year that made people “look at themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are”.