Reacting to his critics. Colton Underwood addressed backlash to his new series, Coming Out Colton, which debuted on Netflix earlier this month.
“I see the criticism,” the former Bachelor, 29, said during the Wednesday, December 15, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “I know that people are upset that I have white privilege and I got a series after coming out.”
After news of the docuseries broke in April, some Bachelor Nation fans were quick to point out that the former NFL player had previously been accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph. The 26-year-old filed a restraining order against Underwood in September 2020, claiming that he had placed a tracking device on her car. Two months later, the duo reached a private agreement and the restraining order was dropped.
During the podcast, host Alexandra Cooper asked the reality star how he would respond to critics who wonder if the new series is an attempt to erase the darker moments of his past.
“I would say there was a lot that went into that version of myself,” the Indiana native replied. “And since coming out, I in no way, shape or form am trying to make people look the other way or forget about anything. I will own my mistakes and I will own who I was at that time in my life. … Me doing this show was never to flip the page or start a new chapter. It was for me to say and to show, like, ‘I f—ked up, I made mistakes.'”
Earlier this month, Underwood exclusively told Us Weekly that he doesn’t think he would ever have come out if it hadn’t been for Randolph and the restraining order. He came out in April during an interview with Good Morning America.
“I think that was sort of a huge wake-up call,” he said of the restraining order. “I’m sad that it even got to that point to where that had to be my wake-up call and me affecting other people in my life was sort of the moment that I realized I had to come out. Obviously, I wish I would have had the courage to come out without having to be pushed.”
Randolph, for her part, is trying to stay out of it. “She only finds out about anything Colton-related if friends mention it to her or it comes out in the public,” an insider told Us of the California native earlier this month. “She’s holding back her real feelings as she doesn’t want to say anything that would hurt him and plus, throwing someone under the bus isn’t the type of person she is.”
Keep scrolling for more revelations from Underwood’s appearance on the podcast: