I (26F) consider this friend (26M) one of my closest friends and had never imagined he would have any romantic feelings towards me considering I have made it clear to him I wouldn't date a friend and the context in which we became friends plays into this. For context, he has never been in a relationship and I trusted him as a friend as he was there for me when I was going through personal issues.
He recently messaged me out of the blue and basically confessed that he has had feelings for me for quite some time now and that his feelings towards me was affecting his life. He also told all of our friends about this and how he planned to tell me. Basically his message was an essay about everything he thought of me and how his intentions everytime he did anything with me was due to him wanting something more than just a friendship.
He ended it by saying he didn't want anything out of telling me, he knew where I stood in terms of dating but he just had to let me know so he could feel better.
I was very shocked and basically told him how uncomfortable I was with what he said about me and asked for distance. I also felt embarrassed because he told our friends.
Our friends said his feelings are valid and I should've been nicer and understanding since he has no experience with dating. My question is, how would I be able to get over my hurt and anger?? I was so disturbed by his messages and I honestly feel really betrayed and disgusted because it has now made me second guess all of our interactions. I feel like I've had my privacy breached in some way knowing his intentions all along. However, I feel like I am being dramatic and we do share alot of friends andI don't want to end our friendship and hurt his feelings. but everytime I see him pop up on social media I feel disgusted and I can't help it. I want to be able to get over this quickly and hopefully mend our friendship but the gut feeling in me lurches when I try to talk to him.
TLDR; My male friend confessed to me and I feel disgusted, how to get over it.