Earlier this year, Cassie Randolph revealed that she learned that Colton Underwood was gay the same way as everyone else.

No, we don’t mean gaydar. She learned it from headlines after he opened up publicly about his sexuality.

But Cassie was very famously his ex. Worse, he did not handle their breakup well — with her accusing him of stalking her post-split.

Since then, they have both moved on. Under the circumstances, how is she feeling about Colton’s coming out?

On this week’s episode of the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast, the hosts asked Cassie Randolph a question.

It was a simple ask … but definitely came with a lot of baggage attached.

How, they wondered, does Cassie feel about Colton coming out as gay publicly without first telling her?

“I feel like this is a very loaded question,” Cassie acknowledged.

She is not wrong about that.

However, she was still able to offer an answer.

“I’m very happy that he is, you know, is at peace with himself,” Cassie affirmed.

“And,” she added, “not carrying that burden anymore, of course.”

That was not her public response to his coming out initially, but she has had time to reflect upon it all. And time to heal from their prior breakup.

“It was a very just overall hard time for me,” Cassie understated.

“So,” she then expressed, “I feel like there was just one thing after another.”

“And,” Cassie admitted, “I was just extremely overwhelmed with everything going on.”

That is a nuanced and, we believe, a very honest answer to the “loaded question.”

Colton has every right to live as his authentic self. It is of course a tragedy that our deeply homophobic society kept him from this for so long.

But that does not mean that Colton’s story would not inevitable leave Cassie feeling some kind of way.

First and foremost, Colton and Cassie met when Colton was the lead on The Bachelor Season 23.

This was back in 2019. He and Cassie bonded quickly, but it was a tumultuous season.

Initially, Colton and Cassie felt that they couldn’t make it after her father declined to give them his blessing.

But after the main portion of the season ended, the two decided to give things another try.

As we noted, this eventually led to a bitter breakup. Colton allegedly stalked Cassie, to the point where she sought a restraining order. That is scary stuff. It is also inexcusable.

Colton came out as gay. He now has a fiance. And that’s wonderful.

But it does not change his alarming behavior amidst his breakup with Cassie.

The fear of a famous, closeted athlete clinging desperately to a lie that society imposed upon him at birth can motivate someone to do a lot. But a motivation is not an excuse.

Some Bachelor fans mistakenly felt that Colton was wrong for dating Cassie or any woman, or for appearing on the show. After all, he’s gay. Wasn’t he wasting the time of all of these women?

Well, that’s not how it works. For that, Colton is not to blame.

Going through the motions of heterosexuality, even in one’s thoughts, is the fault of the homophobia that remains entrenched in our society. It sucks that Colton had to go through that. And it sucks that Cassie had to go through that with him.

Cassie Randolph: I’m Happy Colton Underwood Came Out as Gay, But … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .