BACHELOR Colton Underwood was slammed by Real Housewives of New York City alum Carole Radziwill for starring on the dating show while secretly being gay.
The former NFL player came out as gay on national TV.
Read our Colton Underwood live blog for the very latest news and updates…
Following Colton's interview with Good Morning America where he revealed he was known – and had known since he was six years old but had suppressed – many fans took to social media to praise him for his courage, including former host Chris Harrison.
However, others weren't as forgiving, claiming that he had wasted the contestant and production's time for going on a show when he knew he wasn't living his truth.
Among those was Carole, who appeared on RHONY for six seasons in 2011, who slammed him a series of tweets.
Her twitter rampage began when she tweeted: "Congrats to Colton Underwood but also What??
"You apply & compete with other men to go on a TV show looking for love & you think you might be gay?
"What about processing that without involving TV crews and 25 girls. It's a great day for gay men, bad day for young women. #Bachelor"
Her comments caused quite a controversy among her followers and she took it upon herself to reply to every one of them.
When a follower told her that coming out as gay can be influenced by a wide range of factors that she didn't understand, she told them: "No it's not. I've known many men who've struggled and come out at different times in their lives. It's very difficult.
"But I believe this was a TV show involving 25 women all I'm saying is if there is any doubt why do that? Seems harder… "
A second fan condemned her and told her that she had no base to comment on the situation as a white straight woman, to which she replied: "No, as a straight women I was commenting on the [effect] of the straight women competing for his attention.
"Not the other way around. My bad. I'm happy for him to be living his truth."
Carole was then compared to RHONY's Bethenny Frankel by a third fan, who told her that they were going to ignore she had even spoken out against Colton.
The former journalist told the fan: "Oh now that hits below the belt. It's the @BachelorABC producers that need to reflect tho, it should be part of that convo."
Carole also told a fan who asked her to keep her heart open and be considerate to other people's struggles: "Aww, thanks. My heart is open but in all directions not just to that of the struggling man.
"He chose to go on a reality game show, the women and their journey should be part of this convo. I get it, its a show. #patriarchylives."
Carole also slammed the whole premise behind the Bachelor, saying: "It pits women against each other in the most base way to 'win' a guy.
"Maybe that should be considered? Or stop marketing it as a show to find love? Idk. It's another entertaining show that portrays women as manipulative, conniving and desperate. Start there."
Carole slamming Colton comes after he came out on national TV as gay, following months of speculation.
In a very candid interview, he spoke with Robin Roberts about his struggle with accepting who he was.
"This year has been a lot for a lot of people. It's probably made a lot of people look in the mirror and confront what they were running from," he began.
"For me, I've run from myself for a long time, and I've hated myself for a long time. I'm gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year. The next step in all of this was letting people know. I'm still nervous, it's been a journey for sure."
He told Robin that he's now the "happiest and healthiest" he's ever been in his life after overcoming a bout of depression.
At one point, he claimed he would've rather died than admitted that he was gay. When asked if he had ever harmed himself, Colton replied:
"There was a moment in LA that I woke up where I didn't think I was going to wake up. I didn't have the intentions of waking up , and I think for me, that was my wake-up call of 'this is your life, take back control.'
"Looking beyond that, even just suicidal thoughts, driving my car close to a cliff and thinking 'if I drive my car off this cliff it's not that big of a deal…'"
"I don't feel that anymore," he declared.
He told Robin that it was true he remained a virgin, and when he was confronted with questions about his virginity, he simply said: "I was a virgin Bachelor because I was gay."
Colton previously opened up about questioning his sexuality in his memoir The First Time, but denied that he was gay.
He recalled a particular experience in high school that he battled with throughout his life, in which he was "super insecure" and "thought he was gay."
The reality star revealed his classmates thought he may be gay as they questioned his faith and abstinence from sex, writing: "It was one of those things where you hear something so often, you start believing it.
"I thought, maybe I am gay. The captain of the football team should be having sex and drinking, right? But I wasn’t."
Colton tried to suppress his sexuality to the point where he tried to find love with Bachelor Nation on three different occasions.
He first arrived as a hopeful during Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette.
The former NFL player then went on Bachelor In Paradise, where he even made out bachelorette Tayshia Adams.
He was later named The Bachelor in 2019 where he went home with Cassie Randolph and the two dated for 18 months before calling it quits.
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