Champion swimmer Ian Thorpe explained his reasons behind coming out as gay back in 2014. The Australian revealed his sexuality during an interview with former television presenter Sir Michael Parkinson.
At the time, the athlete declared: “I've thought about this for a long time. I'm not straight. And this is only something that very recently - in the past two weeks - I've been comfortable telling the closest people around me exactly that.”
Now, during an episode of the show This Is Your Life, the Australian decided to expand on why he chose to reveal his sexuality eight years ago.
“I was always doing this interview with Sir Michael Parkinson. I had just come out to my family and to my very very closest friends,' Ian, 39, told host Melissa Doyle. “I had spent some time with [Sir Michael Parkinson] before the interview and told him, ‘you should ask me if I'm gay because I'm going to tell you I am’.”
He continued: “I needed to say it. It was the first time I felt I was comfortable enough to put myself out there. It was important for me to be my authentic self.” The five-time Olympic gold medallist admitted he initially did not want to reveal his sexuality due to fear of disappointing his family and friends.
“Part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay. But I'm telling the world that I am,'" he said. However, they were very supportive of his decision and Thorpe wished he had come out sooner.
Also in the This is Your Life episode, Thorpe recalled the frightening experiences with obsessed fans during the early days of his Olympic career. “I had stalkers, there was one with a gun,” the 39-year-old tells the show's host, Melissa Doyle.
The iconic swimmer added that he was trained on how to safely avoid dangerous stalkers by the police. “I had to have security at my house. Things kind of changed and I was not ready for that and I don't think anyone in their early twenties could be," he continued.
”I had to learn from the police how to be able to drive a car to be able to get past a stalker or someone following me, legally,” he says.
“What I wanted to do was be able to train, be able to race and the other things that come along with it, I wasn't prepared for that.”
