Will Young: I’m not a gay pop star
Pop Idol winner turned Brit nominee, Will Young, this week said he was open about being gay but did not want to be defined by his sexuality.
In a frank and open hearted interview to the Evening Standard he told how he came out to his parents through a friend and said he didn’t want to be stereotyped as a gay pop star, “I don’t want to be defined as a gay pop star, much the same as I don’t want to be defined as a public-school one.”
“Once you say you are in a relationship, the papers will dig around until they find the person you are dating, and make his life hell. In the past, I have said that I haven’t been in a relationship for the past four years, since I won Pop Idol, which I realise is unrealistic.”
“My sexuality is really not an issue; if we were in Amsterdam, you wouldn’t even be asking that question.”
He told the Evening Standard he was in a relationship six months ago which broke his heart when it ended and really knocked his confidence, “I was really heartbroken when we broke up, and it knocked my confidence.
“I suppose for a bit I thought, it didn’t work out because I am so famous, he couldn’t cope with that, but I’ve realised that is nonsense. I can’t blame my fame for the fact I haven’t got a boyfriend.”
The singer reminisced about the affect of winning Pop Idol on his sexuality, he said: “I was suddenly a pop star, I was desexualised. It took me a long time to come to terms with my sexuality; I had to deal with a lot of people knowing an awful lot about me.”
“Not that I am rampant now, it is just that I put that side of me on hold for a while. It would have been too difficult … I didn’t even socialise at first, I just focused on work. I came out when I was 20 to the important people in my life.”
He revealed that his parents found out he was gay through a friend. However, the Evening Standard said he was quoted recently as saying that: “I got a phone call from my mother. She was quite upset actually. It took them a while to deal with it — I think it does. But I know that it challenged them. It makes people challenge their own bigoted views that they didn’t think they had.”
Will Young has been nominated for Best Male at the Brit awards which take place on February 15.
