A play on words. Tayshia Adams seemingly joked about Colton Underwood‘s coming out while presenting an award at the Monday, May 17, MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted.
“I’m not sure that you guys have been following the news but a huge story came out recently, and I’m here to set the record straight,” the former Bachelorette, 30, says in Us Weekly‘s exclusive sneak peek of the show, pausing to add emphasis on the phrase “came out” before continuing. “That’s right. Bennifer is back, baby! And that is all I want to talk about.”
Adams made her Bachelor Nation debut in 2019, competing on Underwood’s season 23 of The Bachelor. After leaving ahead of overnight dates, the former phlebotomist appeared on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise in 2019. She led The Bachelorette in 2020, ultimately getting engaged to Zac Clark.
Underwood, for his part, came out as gay during an April interview with Good Morning America.
“This year’s been a lot for a lot of people and it’s probably made a lot of people look at themselves in the year and figure out who they are,” the First Time author, 29, told Robin Roberts at the time. “I’ve ran from myself for a long time, I’ve hated myself for a long time. I’m gay. I came to terms with that earlier this year, and the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know.”
He added, “I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life. That means the world to me.”
Shortly after his interview, Adams spoke out about the news on her “Click Bait” podcast. “I have to say, I was a little shocked at first,” the reality star admitted. “But all in all, the happiness that I have for him, that he’s finally able to live his truth, and to be out, and the sense of relief that I got from his interview is something that I have to commend immensely. And I’m just so happy that he’s able to just be him.”
The California native added that she felt like there was “something that he was holding back” during their relationship on the show.
“I feel like he was not always himself, and now it all makes sense,” she added. “When I was trying to have those serious conversations with him and when I was trying to picture a life with him down the road, there was always something that he would kind of put a wall up against because he couldn’t fully believe that. That’s not really what he wanted and now it makes sense as to why he wasn’t able to get there with me.”
Adams is set to return to Bachelor Nation next month as the cohost of Katie Thurston‘s season of The Bachelorette.
The MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted air on MTV Monday, May 17, at 9 p.m. ET.
