Colton Underwood talks about his memoir on Live with Kelly and Ryan

Colton Underwood joins Live with Kelly and Ryan remotely to talk about his memoir, The First Time and his journey as the Bachelor.

Colton Underwood seems to be in great spirits as he recovers from the coronavirus. We’re so happy he’s feeling better after being quarantined and nursed back to health at Cassie Randolph’s parents’ home.

Luckily for him, his health improved just as his memoir, The First Time, was released this week. In the book, Underwood opens up about being bullied, his sexuality, and of course, the topic of his virginity which was his season’s tagline, so to speak.

He appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan remotely to talk about the memoir, and answer a question many of us wonder about Bachelor Nation alums. How the heck do you rewatch your season with family members after all the steamy, romantic scenes, and of course, the drama.

Kelly Ripa asked Colton Underwood if there were any misconceptions he’d like to clarify and clear the air about now that it’s been over a year since his season. Naturally, he said it was the topic of his virginity and how everyone tried to dissect that in their own way.

He hopes that The First Time “sheds light and hopefully helps people who are struggling with identity, or being bullied or ridiculed for standing up for what they believe in”. He went on to say that he internalized his own struggle because he didn’t have anyone to talk to about it.

Being on national television was incredibly scary and having his truth out there for everyone to know and run with was even scarier. I can’t imagine how difficult something like that is because as viewers we comment on the Bachelor or Bachelorette leads or the contestants’ behavior. But we forget that there is so much more going on at that moment when things are being filmed, and what you hope gets across when people watch it later doesn’t often translate well.

I remember watching Colton Underwood’s season and wondering why he made certain decisions and wondered why there was so much hype surrounding his virginity. In fact, watching it alongside other fans, the topic of his virginity was also the number one thing we’d discuss.

It takes a lot to share your vulnerabilities when you’re not on national television, so I give props to Underwood for not only sharing them for millions of people, but also writing a memoir to help others going through a similar struggle.

Ryan Seacrest hilariously admitted that he gets uncomfortable when his mom watches Live with Kelly and Ryan so he can’t even imagine what it was like for Underwood. He was curious to learn how the former Bachelor distracted his family while uncomfortable scenes were on.

It turns out you cannot distract people or family as Underwood said, and even he was caught off guard.

"It was my reality TV moment–what did I just do?"

He went on to say that he had no idea the virginity bombshell would drop as early as it did in the super tease ahead of the season. He had no time to prep his family because he anticipated it was going to happen much later than it did.

All Colton Underwood could do that at the moment is look over to his father and tell him they had a lot to talk about. I’m sure that was a fun conversation to have.

Check out Underwood’s memoir, The First Time, and snag your own copy on Amazon now!