Skip to main content

Home News News World

Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black relive school bullying experiences (WATCH)

By Ross Semple

Husbands Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black have opened up about the bullying they experienced while they were at school.

The pair discussed their experiences in a video for the Diana Award’s #Back2School anti-bullying campaign to highlight the issues faced by young people.

Dustin shared an image of himself kitted out in an American Football uniform. He said that while he “didn’t know what [he] was doing”, he took part in the sport to avoid standing out at his Texas middle school.

The writer and director was affected by looking back on the pictures. “This is tough looking back on this stuff,” Dustin said.

Dustin went on to detail an incident when a male classmate made a move on him, and he rebuffed his advances out of the fear of being outed.

Tom said that he had “the best time” during his first few years at school, but things changed for him after he qualified for the 2008 Olympics.

“I came back and then all of a sudden things had just changed,” Tom said. “They took the mick out of what I was wearing when I was on the diving board. They would throw stuff at me at lunchtime.

“It became this thing where diving became a burden rather than it being something I was proud of and enjoyed.”

Tom admitted that his treatment made him question whether to continue on with diving. “Would it be easier if I just stopped doing what these people don’t like?” he asked himself.

The two then delivered a message of support to anyone who is ostracised for being different. “If you believe in something and you’re passionate about something, you should definitely just put everything you’ve got into it.”

Watch the video below:

More stories:
Todrick Hall responds to backlash over Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ video
Sam Smith announces new single ‘Too Good at Goodbyes’