Names and faces
■ Colton Underwood, the former football tight end who found fame on “The Bachelor,” has revealed that he is gay. “I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time,” Underwood told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “And I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it. And the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know.” Underwood, 29, tried out briefly for a handful of NFL teams before his professional football career ended in 2016. Three years later, he won over Cassie Randolph on Season 23 of “The Bachelor,” a show centered on a single bachelor who is asked to select a wife from a pool of romantic interests. Underwood and Randolph never married. Underwood said he finally got to a place where he could be honest with himself after 2020, the year that made people “look at themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are and what they’ve been running from or what they’ve been putting off in their lives.” Before headlining “The Bachelor,” Underwood appeared on the 14th season of “The Bachelorette” and season 4 of “Bachelor in Paradise.” He has a book, titled “The First Time.” “Every LGBTQ person’s journey to discovering and accepting their authentic self is different, and Colton Underwood’s decision to share his truth with the public reminds us that there is no set timeline for coming out,” said Anthony Allen Ramos, head of talent for GLAAD. “Given the large and loyal fandom who know Colton from ‘The Bachelor,’ his coming out and discussion of his faith will hopefully open eyes to the millions of out and proud LGBTQ people who are also people of faith.”
■ First lady Jill Biden had a “common medical procedure” on Wednesday, came through it “well” and was expected to resume her normal schedule, the White House said. President Joe Biden accompanied his wife to an outpatient center near the campus of George Washington University. No further details were immediately released about the condition of the 69-year-old first lady or the procedure. The Bidens returned to the White House after two hours. Jill Biden was seen exiting the motorcade with her husband. “The first lady tolerated the procedure well,” communications director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement. The first lady had no public events scheduled Wednesday. She is planning a trip to Illinois on Monday.