Gay ian thorpe

You can grow up, you can be comfortable and you can be gay."

"A part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay. "I didn't want people to think that I had lied about everything."

He said his friends and family have been supportive of his decision to come out.

"I'm comfortable saying I'm a gay man," he said.

And I don't want people to feel the same way I did. At the moment I am single and looking. I had just come out to my family and to my very very closest friends,' Ian 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".'

Ian continued: 'I needed to say it.

I think we can all appreciate beautiful women and beautiful men. I think when it is someone that is so young, it is tragic for anyone to see them passing at that kind of age.”

Is Ian Thorpe single? But I'm telling the world that I am,'" he said. I did not want anything to be a distraction for me.

Ian’s first major relationship after coming out was with Aussie model and entrepreneur Ryan Channing.

The pair dated from 2015 until 2019, before parting amicably.

“Yes, the rumours are true, we have parted ways. I am telling not only Australia—I'm telling the world that I am and I hope this makes it easier for others now."

On Sunday, Thorpe thanked his fans for their support, in a tweet.

He also received praise from Latin pop star Ricky Martin, a father of twins who declared in 2010 that he is gay, and Nets center Jason Collins, who came out publicly in 2013, becoming the first openly gay NBA player.

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Ian Thorpe has shared the heartbreaking reason he didn't want to come out as gay during the height of his swimming career.

The Olympian, 41, who came out in 2014.

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.

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“Part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay. You can grow up, you can be comfortable and you can be gay.'

The five-time Olympic gold medalist came out as gay during an interview with respected English television presenter Sir Michael Parkinson in July 2014.

The athlete later revealed during an episode of This Is Your Life in 2022 that he decided to speak out about his sexuality because he was finally 'comfortable'.

The Olympian who came out in 2014, revealed to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that he kept his sexuality hidden because he didn't want any 'distractions' from his sporting career in the early 2000s.

I don't want people talking about this,' he said. 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.”

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A definitive guide to Olympian Ian Thorpe’s recent romantic history

Ian Thorpe‘s name will forever be etched in Australian history as one of our greatest sporting legends.

But away from the pool and following his retirement from competitive swimming, first in 2006 and again in 2012 after a brief comeback, the 41-year-old hasn’t always had an easy relationship with love and romance.

When did Ian Thorpe come out?

It was the first time I felt I was comfortable enough to put my self out there. I can’t comment on his behalf, but that was never a discussion as to why we were separating.

The now-openly gay star endured speculation about his sexuality for years, before officially coming out during a TV interview with UK talk show host Michael Parkinson in 2014.

After denying his homosexuality publicly for years, Ian was finally able to be at peace with his identity as a gay man.

“I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man.

I guess that makes me 99 percent straight."

Scott Barbour/Getty Images

In his recent interview with Parkinson, Thorpe said he had wanted to come out for a while but did not feel comfortable, adding that "a part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay," according to News.com.au.

"What happened was, I felt that the lie had become so big that I didn't want people to question my integrity and a little bit of ego comes into this," he said.

"I'm not straight and this is only something that very recently, we're talking in the past two weeks, I've been comfortable telling the closest people around me exactly that."

Channel 10

Thorpe, who is retired from professional swimming, discusses the speculation about his sexuality in at least three pages in his 2012 autobiography, This Is Me.

Thorpe says in his book that he was first asked about the issue by a journalist when he was 16 and that he questioned the relevance of the query with regard to his athletic career.

"I answered anyway.

I'm not straight.

Gay ian thorpe

Is Ian Thorpe single? But I'm telling the world that I am,'" he said. I did not want anything to be a distraction for me.

A definitive guide to Olympian Ian Thorpe’s recent romantic history

When did Ian Thorpe come out? It was the first time I felt I was comfortable enough to put my self out there. I can’t comment on his behalf, but that was never a discussion as to why we were separating.

When did Ian Thorpe come out?

It was the first time I felt I was comfortable enough to put my self out there. I can’t comment on his behalf, but that was never a discussion as to why we were separating.