Carolyn Moos, Ex-Fiancee of NBA Star Jason Collins, Talks About Their Engagement; Former WNBA Star Moos Claims She Had No Idea Collins Was Gay

Many people were shocked when NBA star Jason Collins announced earlier this week that he's gay, but the person who was most shocked is his ex-fiancee.

Former WNBA star Carolyn Moos dated Jason for eight years and was even engaged to him until he called off the wedding in 2009. Carolyn is now claiming that she had no idea he was interested in men during their relationship and called the situation "hard to understand."

"I had to sit down. It's very emotional for me as a woman to have invested [eight] years in my dream to have a husband, soul mate, and best friend in him. So this is all hard to understand," she said to TMZ. "I was shocked. There's no words to really describe my reaction... But this does alleviate some of the pain."

Carolyn said that Jason gave her a courtesy call a few days before his Sports Illustrated bombshell to break the news to her personally. When he ended their engagement, Carolyn said he listed numerous reasons that she knew were untrue and sexuality was never mentioned. However, she says that his honesty about the situation has helped her tremendously in being able to move forward with her life.

"I care about [Jason] tremendously and only want the best for him," she said. "I want Jason to be happy for a lifetime and stay true to who he really is, inside and out."

In his Sports Illustrated feature, Jason called ending their engagement "obviously a tough decision but it was the right one." He also acknowleged dating women for years even though he knew that he preferred men.

"I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue," he said.

Since coming out, he has also received almost unanimously positive support from the basketball community and Hollywood celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres and Katy Perry. His contract with the Washington Wizards was not renewed due to performance reasons and he will become a free agent on July 1, meaning he will have to first sign with an NBA team and wait until next season to see how fans react to his announcement.