Colton Underwood blackmailed into coming out after gay spa visit

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 15 May 2021

The Bachelor star Colton Underwood reveals that he was blackmailed into coming out by someone claiming to have nude pictures of him at a gay spa.

The Bachelor's Colton Underwood has said that he was forced to come out as gay earlier this year after finding himself a target of blackmail.

The 29-year-old former NFL star opened up about his sexuality in an interview with Good Morning America last month, explaining that his experience of being on the dating show helped him to realise that he is gay.

Now he has admitted that his decision to share his news was accelerated following a visit to a spa that caters for gay men, where he had gone "just for a look".

Speaking to Variety, Underwood revealed that after his visit he received an anonymous email from someone claiming to have pictures of him naked at the spa, threatening to out him to the press.

"I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed. Nobody knows I was blackmailed," he said, adding that he then told his publicist about his sexuality, prompting him to come out to a wider audience.

Underwood is now filming a documentary about his experience of coming out for Netflix.

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