Colton Underwood was 'so embarrassed' about fertility issues
Bachelor education alum Colton Underwood talks about his fertility problems as he and husband Jordan Brown continue their journey to parenthood.
“It's hard and it's so intimate. I had so much shame around it. I felt inferior,” Underwood, 32, said in an interview on Friday, February 16 Parents magazine. “My ego took a hit because I pride myself on being a healthy athlete. Suddenly you can no longer do what you really want: produce sperm.”
Underwood came out as gay in 2021, just months before he and Brown confirmed their romance. They decided to expand their family before their May 2023 wedding, and Underwood noted that their mutual desire to become parents was something that bonded them as a couple.
“That was especially important because during my coming out journey [wanting to be a dad] was one of the factors that kept me in the closet,” he said. “I didn't really know it was possible to have a family as a gay man until I came out, until I started having more conversations with Jordan and educating myself.”
The pair started off cheerfully before things quickly became more complicated.
“When we first came in [to the fertility clinic], we kind of went skipping, holding hands, all happy,” he told the outlet. “Day one of starting our family…I got my sperm results back and I had four sperm. Three of them were dead. One barely moved in my sample. It was one of those true things [I was] considered technically sterile. I thought, 'This sucks. This is difficult.'”
He continued: “There are so many different things that people don't really understand that contribute to low sperm quality and motility. And I was basically doing everything I could to kill my sperm, and I didn't even know it.
Underwood noted that he was unprepared for how difficult it would be to receive the news. “It's really emotional in a lot of different ways that we never really thought about,” he said.
Discovering his fertility issues is what ultimately fueled Underwood's desire to launch his upcoming podcast “Daddyhood,” premiering on Wednesday, February 21. The show will tackle the more difficult aspects of the journey to parenthood, including surrogacy, egg donors and adoption. The podcast is a partnership with Family Equality, a nonprofit organization that ensures LGBTQIA+ parents have the right resources and tools to build a family.
For Underwood, the podcast was a “therapeutic” outlet. “I think this is often swept under the rug, the human element,” he said. “I know a lot of women are told, 'Your chances of carrying to term are X percent,' and then you start to feel like a number and you start to get discouraged. My goal here is just to make it more human.”
Gabby Windey, Colton Underwood and more Bachelor Nation alumni are living their best lives under the rainbow after appearing in the franchise. For her part, Windey revealed in August 2023 that she is dating a woman for the first time. The Bachelorette from season 19, who split from ex-fiancé Erich Schwer in 2022 after a television broadcast […]
Underwood was an NFL star before joining Bachelor Nation in 2018 for season 14 of The Bachelorette. After leaving the show single, he later appeared on Bachelor in paradise in 2018 before starring in season 23's Bachelor, which he sparked a romance with Cassie Randolph. The couple opted to date instead of get engaged before calling it quits for good in May 2020. A year later, Underwood came out of the closet during an episode of Good morning America.
“This year has been a lot of things for a lot of people and it's probably caused a lot of people to look at themselves this year and figure out who they are,” he said at the time. “I ran from myself for a long time, I hated myself for a long time. I'm gay. I came to terms with that earlier this year, and the next step in all of this was letting people know. …I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life. That means everything to me.”
While some roses stand the test of time, others wither before Neil Lane's engagement ring can be resized. The Bachelor premiered on ABC in March 2002, with Alex Michel being named the World's Most Eligible Bachelor. More than twenty women competed for his heart and one of the most successful reality TV franchises was born. […]
Later that year, Underwood gushed about his relationship with Brown. “I'm happy, I'm in love and I'm in a good position,” he said exclusively We weekly at the time. “The other cool thing was afterward [Bachelor] was over, I didn't know what really happened next. I knew I would still figure it out and I still am. So there are still things we have to work through now. … The friends that I have, the support group that I have, has been so helpful and impactful.
Prior to his marriage to Brown, Underwood was open about his desire to become a father.
“I feel like I was born a father,” he said Us in March 2022. “There is nothing more in this world than wanting to raise children. I'm very excited when that moment comes.”