Tom Daley: ‘I always knew I was attracted to guys’
By Will Stroude
Tom Daley has revealed he “always knew” he was attracted to guys, but that despite his two year relationship with Hollywood screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, he doesn’t like to use a “particular label” to describe his sexuality.
In a candid interview with The Guardian about his life and relationships, the 21-year-old Olympic diver said that Black was the only person he had ever been in love with – and that his relationship with the Oscar-winning Milk writer was his first with a man.
Asked if he’d considered whether he was gay growing up, Daley replied: “I guess it has always been in the back of my head, but you never really know. I’d never had feelings for a person along those lines. I’d been in relationships with girls where I’d had sexual feelings, but it became so much more intense when I met Lance.
“I thought, ‘Whoa, this is weird. Why am I having these feelings for somebody?’”
He continued: “It freaked me a little bit initially, but then it was like, ‘OK, this makes sense’. Lots of things started to make sense.”
He added: “I always knew that I had that attraction to guys, but I just thought that was a usual thing, being attracted to guys and girls. It was only when I met Lance I started having such strong feelings.”
The former Splash! host went on to say that despite being in the closet publicly at the start of their relationship, Black never pressured him to come out – which he eventually did so in a YouTube video in December 2013.
“Yes, he was supportive, but it never got to a point where he said, ‘You should do something about coming out.’ Daley said.
“He was just always there, supportive. At no point was he at all pushy.”
In his coming out video Daley had said “I still fancy girls”, and he admitted that this remained the case now.
Asked if he was bisexual, he said: “I don’t put a particular label on any of it because right now I’m in a relationship with a guy, but I still have sexual feelings towards girls.”
He added that Black didn’t mind the fact he was still interested in girls, saying: “No, we joke about it sometimes. He actually sometimes has sexual feelings towards girls. Relationship, feelings… I’m with Lance, but you can appreciate anyone who’s hot!”
The young sports star – who recently became a patron for Switchboard and auctioned off a pair of his trunks to raise money for the LGBT charity – admitted in June that 18 months after coming out publicly, he still finds it “weird” saying he has a boyfriend – read more here.
We recently celebrated the current Attitude HOT 100 champ’s 21st birthday with 21 of his hottest ever moments – click here to take a look.
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