OA former Bachelor appears on Wednesday morning Good morning America with a big announcement. “It’s a lot for a lot of people, of course,” Colton Underwood told host Robin Roberts. “And probably a lot of people have looked at themselves in the mirror and realized who they are and where they are running from or what they are putting off in their lives.”
“I’m gay, ‘he said,’ and I approved and processed it earlier this year. ‘
Underwood has been dealing with rumors about his sexuality for years, and it’s gratifying to see that the former Bachelor has finally found a way to live his truth with pride. A number of celebrities and Bachelor alums have already expressed their support for Underwood. But the way ABC handled the interview was strange at best and irresponsible at worst. In her rush to ratify Underwood, Roberts essentially removed the temporary restriction a judge had on a participant in Underwood’s winner, Cassie Randolph, last year.
Last September, Randolph alleged that Underwood harassed and chased her, including placing a tracking device on her car and peeking outside her bedroom window at her parents’ home at 2 p.m. Randolph dropped the restriction in November after the two reached a private agreement. and in a statement at the time, Underwood wrote in part, “I do not believe Cassie did anything wrong in submitting the restraining orders and also believe that she acted in good faith.”
Roberts vaguely mentions the temporary restriction after describing Randolph as ‘the woman’ [Underwood] the fence jumped for on The old guy.“She mentioned ‘Cassie filing and then a restraining order’ against Underwood, but did not give any details about the allegations.
Instead, it was Underwood who had to mark the demise of the relationship – and as he describes it, the whole thing sounds like a standard break.
“I want to say sorry for how things ended,” Underwood said. “I was confused. I made a lot of bad choices. ”
“Were you in love with Cassie?” Ask Roberts.
“Yes,” Underwood replied. ‘I mean, and that just made it harder and more confusing for me. To be honest, I loved everything about her, and it’s hard for me to articulate exactly what my emotions were in the relationship, because of course I had an internal struggle. ‘
“I just want to say I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart,” Underwood concluded without ever giving insight into what he was sorry for. ‘I’m sorry for the pain and emotional tension I caused. I wish it would not have happened the way it did. I wish I had been brave enough to correct myself before I broke someone else. ”
‘I do not believe that Cassie did anything wrong in filing the ban, nor do I believe that she acted in good faith.”
It’s worth going into detail about the ’emotional tension’ that Underwood allegedly caused – because just as much as we have to sympathize with the emotional turmoil that led Underwood to this self-realization, it also does not let the fact that the way he allegedly treated Randolph does not sound. really scary.
Randolph and Underwood broke up in May last year. As People reported last September, Randolph’s request for a restraining order alleges that Underwood ‘admitted to some mutual friends and colleagues that he had placed the tracker. [her] use car and the alias phone numbers to send the anonymous text messages [Randolph], himself and others. ”
Randolph also claimed that Underwood sent her and himself an SMS pretending to be an anonymous stalker. She claims he took ‘obsessive’ walks to her Los Angeles apartment, where he would appear unannounced, and that he also appeared uninvited at her parental home in Huntington Beach. People reports.
To belittle Underwood’s behavior, or to explain it as the simple result of the struggle with his sexuality, renders both women and strangers a bad service.
‘Randolph also claimed that Underwood sent her and himself an SMS pretending to be an anonymous stalker. She claims that he also took ‘obsessive’ walks to her apartment in Los Angeles, where he would appear unannounced, and that he also appeared uninvited at her parents’ house in Huntington Beach …”
Women are already facing an uphill battle to get authorities to take complaints of harassment and harassment seriously. Think of the tragic murder of Shana Grice – who chased her ex-boyfriend several times to the police before her ex-boyfriend cut her throat and set her body on fire. (But only after police fined Grice £ 90 for ‘wasting their time’.) Or when Anita Sarkeesian had to cancel a speech at the University of Utah during the Gamergate mess after the university sent an email received in which an act was threatened ‘worse than the deadliest school shooting’ because the police refused to strip participants or use metal detectors to ensure everyone’s safety.
To characterize Underwood’s actions as merely the result of emotional confusion is extremely irresponsible; many strangers struggle to process their identities before they get out, but most of them find a way to do so without allegedly installing a tracking device on their ex’s car.
There is no doubt that the personal journey of Underwood was difficult. On GMA, he described finding himself in a “dark and bad” place.
“There was a moment in LA that I woke up and I didn’t think I was going to wake up,” Underwood told Roberts. “I did not intend to wake up, and neither did I. And I think to me that was my wake-up call of, ‘This is your life. Take control again. ” He describes ‘suicidal thoughts and driving my car near a cliff, like,’ Oh, if it’s going off the cliff, it’s not a big deal. ”
“I don’t feel it anymore,” Underwood concludes, breaking his voice.
Underwood’s emotional process was complicated in some ways by being highlighted as ‘the virgin Bachelor’. While fans speculated about Underwood’s sexuality during his season, Billy Eichner presented his own theory during his celebrity performance on The old guy—To express the possibility that Underwood was “the first gay bachelor”.
‘I used to be a virgin [The Bachelor], and I could never give anyone a good enough answer as to why I was a virgin, ‘said Underwood. “The truth is, I was a virgin bachelor because I was gay, and I did not know how to handle it.”
Now, Underwood said, ‘I’m emotional, but I’m emotional in such a good, happy, positive way. I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life, and that means the world to me. ”
But no matter how wonderful it is for any stranger to find self-acceptance, it may not make it possible for anyone to bypass liability. Just as Hollywood did not allow Kevin Spacey to come out to address the allegations of molestation, Underwood’s announcement should not protect him from responsibility for everything that happens to Randolph.
This makes Underwood’s maintenance so complicated. The openness with which he describes his journey is commendable, and as Roberts notes, it will likely help young gay men like Underwood, especially young athletes associated with the former footballer, to accept their own identity. Young gay Christians can also respond to Underwood’s candid description of how self-acceptance helped him feel more connected to a god he once prayed to straighten him out. But praising Underwood while picking up Randolph’s allegations at the same time does not help anyone, especially since Underwood is apparently using this moment as a new brand opportunity.
Roberts teased that more of her interview with Underwood would be broadcast Naglyn—Therefore, we may hear additional details about why things unfolded with Randolph as it happened, and whether Underwood was able to succeed. But in the meantime, Variety reports that Underwood allegedly already has a Netflix reality show focusing on Underwood living his life in public as a gay man. ‘
A Netflix representative declined to confirm or comment on the series. Representatives from Underwood and Randolph did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.