Olympic gold medalist Gus Kenworthy will appear in an upcoming Netflix series as he helps former Bachelor Colton Underwood navigate his life as a gay man, following his public coming out in April 2021. While little has been revealed about the show, Gus spoke to HollywoodLife.com in an EXCLUSIVE interview and dished on what to expect. “I’m just offering insight and support where I can because I also came out publicly and had a bit of a platform prior to that,” he told HL. “I feel like I’ve walked that path, certainly more so than he has, so I tried to offer advice and support in ways that I could.”
The professional skier continued, “I hope that it will be something that’s well received. I think that it will be a good thing in terms of just representation and people getting to see a coming out story on their screens… Hopefully, people seeing it will find solace and it’ll help make someone else’s coming out experience easier.”
Gus also opened up about mental health and anxiety while speaking to HL, specifically in reference to the ongoing conversation surrounding athletes emotional health. “I think that athletes are oftentimes shining examples of the human spirit, and I think that the feats that these athletes can do is something that we should all admire,” he began. “I think that more important is who these people are as individuals and role models, and prioritizing mental health is an incredible example of what we should all be doing, because we should all be prioritizing mental health, whether it’s in sports, or just in life.”
One way Gus does that is by spending time with his adorable rescue dog, Birdie. “Every single person needs a good support system. And some people rely on their family and their friends. I certainly rely on my dog for support, which is easy, because they’re quick to give it and they’re just very loving, unconditionally,” he said.
Gus spoke to HL in partnership with Autotrader to celebrate National Dog Day with the announcement of Autotrader’s annual “10 Best New Cars for Dog Lovers” list, which identifies the current year models that are perfect for dogs and their owners. The company also released a limited-edition 2022 Dog Calendar (Calen-Dogs) that features Gus and Birdie on the cover! Folks can enter for the chance to win at Dogtrader.com.