Hannah Brown has "a lot of different views" on Colton Underwood.
The Bless This Mess author, who appeared on Colton's season The Bachelor in 2019, was asked about her ex's new Netflix documentary series, Coming Out Colton, on the Dec. 13 episode of SiriusXM's The Michelle Collins Show.
The docuseries, which was released earlier in December, shed new light on Colton's life in the past few years and featured the star speaking about his tumultuous breakup with Cassie Randolph, who received the final rose on his season of the ABC dating show.
"I think there's two sides to it," Hannah said of Colton's docuseries. "I understand why people would be upset that he has a TV show—just because he's a white, gay man and there's some privilege there. And I also understand [that with] his relationship with Cassie, I think he definitely made a lot of mistakes."
She continued, "But as far as knowing him as a person, I think it's really cool that he's finally being able to, for the first time, be himself, which is weird that I'm saying that [because] I dated him and he was gay the whole time."
After Hannah left Colton's season of The Bachelor, she was named the star of The Bachelorette's 15th season. Two years later, Colton came out as gay.
Hannah, who said she has seen Coming Out Colton, told host Michelle Collins, "I think I like him better as a gay man."
"Even though it's obvious that, like, he's still almost like uncomfortable with this new life [because] he has never allowed himself to be who he is, it is cool to kind of just watch him try to be his most authentic self for the first time," she explained. "I have a lot of different views on it, but ultimately, I'm all about people understanding more of who they are and growing and not being just defined by all their past mistakes, but totally kind of see everyone's side on it."
Colton and Cassie split in May 2020, less than two years after first meeting on The Bachelor. Cassie filed for a restraining order against Colton in September of that year, alleging that he stalked and harassed her following their breakup, but dropped the case a month later.
A source close to Cassie recently told E! News that the Bachelor Nation star "thinks it's inappropriate that Colton has continuously spoken about their relationship, but understands it's part of his journey."
While reflecting about her own personal past with Colton, Hannah said that she believes "a lot of the girls knew" that the former NFL player was gay during filming.
"[We thought,] ‘No, surely he's not gay. He's the Bachelor.' You're like, ‘OK, maybe he's just not what we thought he was gonna be.' You know? And that is the case a lot of times for reality TV. You don't really know the full person," she said. "So, I was like, ‘Oh, well I just misjudged [who] I thought I was going to meet, [and I was] trying to drop down the expectations,' but it all makes so much more sense with just who he was and the mirage."