Weeks after coming out as a gay man, Colton Underwood is continuing to talk about his decision to live authentically.

The former Bachelor star graces the cover of Varietys May 12 issue and, in the accompanying interview, speaks at length about the events that led up to his emotional Good Morning America appearance last month in which he addressed his sexuality publicly for the first time.

The 29-year-old, who was born in Indiana and grew up in Illinois, told the publication that his publicist, Alex Spieller, was the first person he told that he was gay. That discussion, he said, took place last year after hed received an anonymous email from someone who purportedly had obtained nude photographs of him visiting a Los Angeles spa known for catering to an LGBTQ clientele.

I, at one point, during my rock bottom and spiral, was getting blackmailed, Underwood said. Nobody knows I was blackmailed. I knew that out of anybody in my world, my publicist wasnt going to ruin me.