Will Young claims Pop Idol TV bosses tried to make him hide his sexuality

Will Young has claimed show bosses told him to keep his sexuality a secret when he appeared on TV talent show Pop Idol.

Shortly after beating runner-up Gareth Gates to be crowned winner, the Leave Right Now singer, 45, came out publicly in 2002 amid reports a newspaper was planning to out him. 

Addressing the issue at the time in an interview when he was 23, Young said: “For me it's normal and nothing to be ashamed about. I'm gay and I'm comfortable with that. I really don't know what the fuss is about.”

Young has now given a further insight into exactly what went down two decades ago while appearing as a guest on Rylan Clark’s new BBC Sounds podcast How To Be In The Spotlight.

He explained: “I was told not to say anything. I just told them I wasn't going to do that. 

Will Young opened up to Rylan Clark while a guest on his How To Be In The Spotlight podcast on BBC Sounds

“Basically told them to "f**k off". I said, "I didn't come out and go through all those years being terrified of it to be kicked back in the f*****g closet!" I always thought it was just unnecessary stress.”

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant also claimed that there were further attempts to cover up his sexuality later on in his career, including a record company executive ordering him to re-record his signature hit “because he “sounded too gay”.

He said: “I had a record company executive who said I sounded too gay on Leave Right Now so I needed to re-record it. 

“I was working with Annie Lennox's producer, and we just sent him the same vocal back again and he just went, ‘yeah, love it!’.

“In 2009, I did a beautiful black and white video, and there's one point I'm dancing with a male mannequin and the record company wanted to cut that out of the video. Too gay!”

Young - who releases his ninth studio album titled Light It Up on August 9 - also revealed the homophobic threats he received after coming out, including being chased and left fearing for his life while out with his boyfriend. 

He said: “I did feel quite exposed and you just have to remember again at that time gay bashing was a big f*****g thing. 

“Sadly, it still is. And I was right to be a bit scared because I used to have people running after me, threatening to stab me and my boyfriend. It was awful. But I was not going to live a lie.”

The Standard has contacted Fremantle who produced Pop Idol for comment.