7 'Bachelor' stars who have come out as members of the LGBTQ+ community

Fans of “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise” tune in every season to watch contestants find love.

Though plently of contestants, including the leads, leave the show without finding their soulmates, they continue to keep Bachelor Nation updated on their love lives.

Some, like former “Bachelor” Colton Underwood and “Bachelorette” Gabby Windey have also opened up to fans about their sexuality. Underwood and Windey add to the growing list of Bachelor Nation alums who have come out over the past few years after appearing on “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” or “Bachelor in Paradise.

Read on to learn about all the Bachelor Nation stars who have publicly spoken about being members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Gabby Windey

Gabby Windey, who made history with Rachel Recchia in Season 19 of “The Bachelorette” as a dual lead, announced on Aug. 2 that she is in a relationship with writer and comedian Robby Hoffman.

She uploaded a slideshow of photos to Instagram of cute moments they have shared together and cheekily wrote in the caption. “Told you I’m a girls girl!!”

Windey spoke more about her new relationship on her Instagram story. “You know I love to stir the pot and tease, but I did want to wait until I was ready because it is a larger conversation because I’m dating a girl,” she explained in a video.

The “Dancing with the Stars” alum added, “It’s been honestly, truly, really the best experience over these last three months. I’ve been in a relationship I feel like I’ve never had before.”

She said she wanted to come out publicly so she can fully live her life and continue to bring fans on her love journey.

Colton Underwood

Two years after leading Season 23 of “The Bachelor” in 2019, Colton Underwood announced he is gay during an appearance "Good Morning America." He further discussed his sexuality in the Netflix reality series “Coming Out Colton.”

At the time, the former NFL player also spoke to Variety about confronting his suppressed feelings and coming out after Cassie Randolph — to whom he gave his final rose on “The Bachelor” and dated for a year —filing a restraining order against him. In court documents obtained by TODAY.com, Randolph said Underwood "harassed" and "stalked" her.

“I never want people to think that I’m coming out to change the narrative, or to brush over and not take responsibility for my actions, and now that I have this gay life that I don’t have to address my past as a straight man,” Underwood said at the time. “Controlling situations to try to grasp at any part of the straight fantasy that I was trying to live out was so wrong.”

Randolph responded to Underwood coming out on an episode of“The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast."

“I’m very happy that he is ... at peace with himself and not carrying that burden anymore, of course. It was a very just overall hard time for me," she said.

In May, People reported that Underwood married beau Jordan C. Brown in a Napa Valley ceremony.

Underwood told the publication the couple wanted to “break some of the traditional norms of what a ceremony and a wedding look like” with their nuptials.

He uploaded photos from the ceremony to Instagram and wrote in the caption, “The Brown-Underwoods May 13th 2023,” with a red heart emoji.

Demi Burnett

Demi Burnett originally appeared on Underwood’s season of “The Bachelor” before venturing to Mexico for “Bachelor in Paradise” Season Six in 2019. There, she explored a relationship with Kristian Haggerty, the woman she briefly dated after Underwood eliminated her.

Haggerty surprised Burnett on the beach and the two picked up where they left off, making history as the franchise’s first same-sex relationship. Burnett came out on the show and spoke to E! News while the episodes were airing about the public reaction to her connection with Haggerty.

“The reaction has been crazy,” she said at the time. “It’s been so good. So much positivity. The haters get drowned out—I wasn’t expecting it. And I think I was ready (for) it.”

She continued, “I was nervous about it, just because I didn’t know how it was going to look, you know, all the fear of people judging you based off of who you choose to love still was lingering, but it’s liberating now that it’s out there, and everyone’s supporting me.”

At the end of “Bachelor in Paradise” Season Six, Burnett and Haggerty got engaged, but called it quits in October 2019.

In a joint statement on Instagram, they wrote, “With a heavy heart full of love for one another we have decided it is best for us to take a step back from our relationship. We ultimately want what is best for us in the long run and for us right now, that means being apart and growing individually.”

They added, “We will forever be proud of the impact our love story has made and we hope it has helped others feel more accepted and confident within themselves. We hope it reminded others they aren’t alone and don’t need to be ashamed of who they are.”

Becca Tilley

Becca Tilley was the runner-up on Chris Soules’ season of “The Bachelor” in 2015 and later returned to the franchise for Ben Higgins’ season of “The Bachelor” the following year. Although she didn’t find love, she built a strong following on Instagram with over 1 million followers and started hosting the “Scrubbing In” podcast.

Tilley often spoke about a private relationship on the podcast, going back to 2018, but she did not publicly confirm her romance with singer Hayley Kiyoko until May 2022.

“Hard to say if this is a hard or soft launch, but it is a launch,” she captioned a video showing sweet moments they have shared over the years. She also included a red heart emoji and the hashtag “95p,” the code name she used to refer to Kiyoko on her podcast.

Tilley’s announcement came a few hours after Kiyoko released a music video for her song “For the Girls,” starring Tilley. The “Bachelorette”-themed video showed Kiyoko looking for someone to hand her rose to until Tilley arrived and immediately stole her heart.

The couple is still together and recently attended one of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts. Tilley posted a clip of them revealing their pastel-colored concert attire on Instagram.

“In the middle of a parking lot……. Yaaaaa,” Tilley wrote in the caption, referencing Swift’s song “Fearless.”

She added, “What a freaking show! A core memory with my girl.”

On Aug. 13, Kiyoko posted a selfie of the couple. “One thing about summer ... it’s for the girls,” she wrote in the caption.

Elizabeth Corrigan

Elizabeth Corrigan competed for Clayton Echard’s heart on his season of “The Bachelor” in 2022.

A few months after appearing on the show, she opened up about her sexuality on Instagram.

In honor of Pride Month, she posted a carousel of photos of her posing on a balcony in Manhattan, New York, while wearing a rainbow bandeau.

“Waking up this morning to my first Pride in NYC I was so excited,” she wrote in the caption, in part. “I sprung out of bed, went to get a coffee-bought a flag- and quickly began feeling anxious. Overwhelmingly so. Am I ready? No. Am I scared? Yes. Will ‘the right time’ come? Qualify it.”

She continued, “It’s important to me today to share with you all that I am queer. More specifically I am, always have been, and always will be-bisexual,” and added a rainbow emoji.

Corrigan described the fear she experiences before discussing her sexuality with new people. But, she said it was more important to be her authentic self.

“So maybe one person will feel less alone ... If you’re that one. I’ve got you. I’m here-I’ll answer. You are NOT alone. Hoping that one day the fear will turn to what it should be … PRIDE,” she said.

Jaimi King

Jaimi King appeared on Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor” in 2016 as the first openly queer contestant on the show. She spoke to Viall about previously dating a woman and later stopped by “Bachelor in Paradise” for Season Four.

King was repeatedly labeled as bisexual on the show, but she told Refinery29 in September 2017 that that is not the only way she describes her sexuality.

“I realized that I think I am a homo-romantic, because I feel like I could fall in love with anyone, and I have,” she said at the time. “And sexually, I go homosexual as well. I guess it basically is bisexual. But I don’t want to narrow myself down to two sexes or genders. ‘Fluid’ would be more open to everything — not just male or female.”

In June 2023, she celebrated Pride Month by posting a photo on Instagram of her wearing a shirt that said, “The world has bigger problems than boys who kiss boys and girls who kiss girls.”

She is currently engaged to fiancé Geoff Parrish. In an Instagram post on Aug. 4, she seemed to confirm the couple’s wedding date: Feb. 4, 2024.

Alexa Caves

Alexa Caves was a contestant on Peter Weber’s season of “The Bachelor” in 2020 and was eliminated during Week Three. While the show was airing, Caves said on Instagram that fans filled her inbox with a “crazy” number of messages about her sexuality, People reported.

So, she decided to address the curious minds on her Instagram story.

“I’m fluid,” she said, according to the publication. “I’ve been with women and I’ve been with men. I’m open minded (sic).”

She added, “To me this really isn’t a big deal. People in my life know this about me. But I thought that I’d share this because some people are curious and I’m not ashamed of who I am.”

Caves concluded, “I just do my thang.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com