Colton Underwood Reveals He Didn’t Reach Out To Aly Raisman After Talking About Her On ‘The Bachelor’

Colton Underwood got emotional last week when he shared a deeply personal story after contestant Caelynn Miller-Keyes opened up to him about being sexually assaulted when she was in college four years ago. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, the Bachelor star revealed that he did not reach out to the woman that many fans assume he was talking about during the conversation.

After Caelynn’s gut-wrenching rape reveal, Colton Underwood talked about his own experience with an ex-girlfriend he described as his “first love.” Colton revealed that his ex-girlfriend had also been sexually assaulted and he insinuated that her experience contributed to the fact that he remained a virgin even after falling in love with her.

While he did not name his ex, many Bachelor fans believe Colton was referring to Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, whom he dated from 2016 to 2017. Aly Raisman has been vocal about her sexual assault at the hands of former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar. Raisman’s powerful testimony helped get her former team doctor sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing dozens of young U.S. gymnasts, according to People.

Some Bachelor fans took to social media to say they hoped Colton had reached out to Aly before sharing details of her story and how it affected their relationship. But in the new interview with ET, Underwood said he did not reach out to Raisman before or after talking about her on TV.

“No [I haven’t reached out to Aly]. The one thing that I will speak on is Caelynn and how powerful and how strong and brave she is. It still was so emotional for not only me to watch back, but I’m sure for her as well.”

In an interview with Us Weekly last summer, Colton Underwood explained why he didn’t talk about his relationship with Aly Raisman when he was a contestant on The Bachelorette. At the time, Colton said Aly was “going through enough” with the Nassar trial and didn’t “deserve” to be involved in his reality TV show. Colton also said he has “so much love and respect for Aly” and said there was no reason to distract from what she was doing for other sexual assault victims.

Aly Raisman has revealed that she is not watching her ex-boyfriend Colton Underwood on The Bachelor. Last week, Raisman admitted to People, “I don’t watch the show. We broke up a couple of years ago and we really — we have not talked in a really, really long time.”

But Raisman did say that she is supportive of Colton’s contestant, Caelynn Miller-Keyes, for coming forward to share her story on national television.

“I really commend her for her bravery and I stand with her and I hope she’s getting a ton of support because she deserves it,” Raisman said.

Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC