{"id":764499,"date":"2026-02-20T12:29:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764499\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T12:29:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:29:27","slug":"colton-underwood-reflects-nfl-past-marriage-to-jordan-c-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764499\/","title":{"rendered":"Colton Underwood Reflects NFL Past, Marriage To Jordan C. Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

With his time on \u201cThe Traitors\u201d at an end, Colton Underwood<\/a> is taking time to reflect on his reality TV fame as well as his public \u2015 and, at times, controversial \u2015 journey to living as his true self. <\/p>\n

Underwood had a brief, if unremarkable, stint in the NFL<\/a> before rising to national prominence as a contestant on \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d and, later, as the star of \u201cThe Bachelor<\/a>.\u201d Appearing on Thursday\u2019s episode of Grindr\u2019s \u201cWho\u2019s the A**hole? with Katya<\/a>\u201d podcast, he said he now believes he might have gone further in his football career if he\u2019d been able to play as an out gay man. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was so compartmentalized and I pushed and suppressed all these feelings and anger and anxiety,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I could\u2019ve just fully been myself, would I have been a better player?\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite his attempts at hiding his sexuality while in the NFL, Underwood said, \u201cIt\u2019s always in the back of your mind … especially in a locker room.\u201d <\/p>\n

Watch Colton Underwood talk about his experience in the NFL below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, OK, I don\u2019t want to look too long,\u201d he added. \u201cBut then there\u2019s, like, this weird homoeroticism that happens in locker rooms where they talk openly about each others\u2019 privates … it\u2019s just a whole performative thing that goes on.\u201d <\/p>\n

Underwood came out as gay<\/a> in an emotional interview on \u201cGood Morning America<\/a>\u201d in 2021. Despite criticisms<\/a> of both his \u201cBachelor\u201d past<\/a> and a subsequent Netflix docuseries<\/a> chronicling his coming-out experience, the 34-year-old has since become an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. In 2023, he married<\/a> political strategist Jordan C. Brown. The two men welcomed a son<\/a>, Bishop Colton Brown-Underwood, a year later. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere in his \u201cWho\u2019s the A**hole?\u201d chat, Underwood said Brown, who worked on<\/a> former President Barack Obama\u2019s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, \u201cmatches and checks every box that I\u2019ve ever wanted.\u201d Still, he tried to keep their romance \u201cunder wraps for as long as possible\u201d at first. <\/p>\n

Watch Underwood chat about the early days of his relationship with husband Jordan C. Brown below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fell in love very quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cI credit that to the \u2018Bachelor\u2019 style [of] dating, and what I took from that show.\u201d <\/p>\n

Season 4 of \u201cWho\u2019s the A**hole? with Katya\u201d kicked off last week<\/a> with an appearance by actor and drag icon Jinkx Monsoon<\/a>. Previous guests also include Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy<\/a> and \u201cHacks\u201d actor and comedian Meg Stalter<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u201d and \u201cDrag Race All Stars\u201d veteran, Katya said the focus of \u201cWho\u2019s the A**hole?\u201d is to foster \u201copen conversations with about the realities of queer dating and relationships,\u201d citing the late Dr. Ruth Westheimer<\/a> as an inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can be an asshole when it comes to dating, but nobody wants to admit it. That\u2019s where I come in \u2014 to get the dirt on everyone!\u201d the performer told HuffPost<\/a> last year. \u201cMy job is to make sure everyone feels comfortable enough to have these conversations and make these topics less taboo \u2015 I mean, everyone fucks and everyone can be an asshole. Just look at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer “Bachelor” star Colton Underwood, left, said husband Jordan C. Brown \u201cmatches and checks every box that I\u2019ve ever wanted.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With his time on \u201cThe Traitors\u201d at an end, Colton Underwood is taking time to reflect on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[108935,7,108934,6,108936],"class_list":{"0":"post-764499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-colton-underwood","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-homophobia","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-the-traitors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116102974595843287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}