He’s a Christian who refuses to believe in the version of God he learned about as a Catholic altar boy.
The series, which started filming before his “Good Morning America” appearance, is a heartfelt but carefully packaged diary, in which Underwood reveals his sexual orientation to unsuspecting family members, friends and others, and gets a crash course in gay.
Underwood hopes the show helps people see how coming out can be a gift.
“I’ve lived my life so publicly straight, and I ran from a community I’ve belonged to my entire life,” he said over breakfast at Hugo’s, a diner on Santa Monica Boulevard he picked.
Underwood gets an assist on the series from his friend Gus Kenworthy, the skier and Olympian who came out as gay in 2015.
This being reality TV, Underwood didn’t prepare the people he comes out to on camera — what we see, he said, is their genuine reaction to the news that he is gay.
“I’m not saying I’m upset about it, but I would have preferred it had been done differently,” he said by phone.
An online petition with over 35,000 signatures as of late November asks Netflix to cancel the series because of stalking and harassment allegations that Underwood’s ex-girlfriend, Cassie Randolph, outlined in a restraining order she filed against him in September 2020.
Jeff Jenkins, an executive producer of “Coming Out Colton,” said a talent agent originally pitched the show to him as a reality series about Underwood and Randolph as a couple.
“We saw the positive of him sharing his story,” said Jenkins, an executive producer of “I Am Cait,” a series about Caitlyn Jenner’s life as a transgender woman, with which “Coming Out Colton” shares L.G.B.T.Q.
6, 2020, five months before Underwood revealed his sexuality on TV, which means he came out to his professional team before his family.
Underwood said his hand had been forced because, as he also told Variety, he got an anonymous email last year from someone who claimed to have nude photos of him at a spa known for a gay clientele.
Underwood knew his family had to be next.
Underwood didn’t say much other than that he was “very happy and very in love” with Brown and that the two men’s families have met.
Underwood isn’t sure what comes next — maybe another gay TV project of some kind.