Tom Daley, the 19-year-old who won a bronze metal for his 10-metre dive at the 2012 Olympics, has come out as bi in a video blog.
Daley decided to tell the world he’s been dating a guy since the spring because of an interview he gave to the Mirror that was published with the headline “Daley: I Am NOT Gay — But I Don’t Care if You Think I Am.” The Olympian claims the article twisted his words and now wants to set the record straight.
“I think it’s funny when people say I’m gay . . . . I laugh it off,” the Mirror quoted Daley as saying. “I’m not. But even if I was, I wouldn’t be ashamed. It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest what people thought. But I can understand why I have a massive gay following — I spend most of my life half naked in trunks on a diving board showing off my bare chest. I often joke I wear more to bed than I do to work. But I’m cool with my gay following. It’s great to have gay fans even though my friends gently take the mick.”
But in his video blog, Daley is singing a different tune about his sexuality:
“I’ve been dating girls and I’ve never really had a serious relationship to talk about and now I feel ready to talk about my relationships. Come spring this year my life changed massively when I met someone and it made me feel so happy, so safe, and everything just feels great. And, well, that someone is a guy. It did take me by surprise a bit, but it was always in the back of my mind that something like this could happen.”
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