‘Bachelor in Paradise’ alum Tia Booth hit back at social media trolls who called her for being taciturn after her ex Colton Underwood came out as gay.
“@Coltonunderwood knows how I feel. Love who you want to love, ”Booth, 29, wrote on her Instagram story Thursday alongside screenshots of messages she received from Bachelor Nation fans urging her to speak up.
There is my statement. I’m my own PR team gtg bye, ” the physical therapist joked in her post, which was set to TI and Rihanna’s “ Live Your Life ” song.
Underwood, 29, first opened up about his sexual orientation during a candid ‘Good Morning America’ interview with Robin Roberts that aired Wednesday.
‘I’ve run away from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time, ”he said. And I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and processed it. And the next step in all of this was to let people know. “
The former footballer joined Bachelor Nation in 2018 when he competed in the season of Becca Kufrin’s “The Bachelorette”. Before joining the show, he traded DMs with Booth, but their friendship didn’t take a romantic turn until they took part in Season 5 of “Bachelor in Paradise” later that year. Their relationship was short-lived.
“We were better off as friends, and we have remained friends,” Underwood wrote in his 2020 memoir, “The First Time,” calling Booth one of his “most trusted confidants” to this day.
After his stint on the Mexico spin-off, ABC named the athlete season 23 “ Bachelor, ” becoming the franchise’s first virgin lead. He eventually chose Cassie Randolph as his winner, but did not propose to her during the March 2019 final.
Underwood and the speech pathologist, 25, stayed off-screen dating for over a year before announcing their split in May 2020. She obtained a restraining order against him in September, claiming that he harassed her and tracked her car. Randolph dropped the order in November when Underwood revealed they had “ reached a private agreement. ”