Gay strongman Rob Kearney reveals his secret to ‘real happiness’
Rob Kearney (Instagram)
Gay strongman Rob Kearney has opened up about his experience of coming out in an emotional and powerful speech.
Speaking to students at Frontier Regional School in Massachusetts on November 22, Kearney discussed the challenges associated with coming out in sport – but said it was all worth it.
“The biggest thing I want you all to realise is, you know, once you aren’t afraid to actually be yourself, that’s when you actually get to experience real happiness,” Kearney said, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reports.
“For me, it’s when I got to experience real love, once I was finally able to break down all those walls and accept me for who I actually was, it completely changed my life and let me be able to talk to students like you about the things that I’ve done in this world.”
Gay strongman Rob Kearney lived a ‘heterosexual’ life before coming out at 22.
Elsewhere in the speech, Kearney said he had lived a typical heterosexual life for many years before coming out as gay – and even lived with his former girlfriend.
“I say ‘relationship’ fairly loosely, now that I look back on what it was,” Kearney said. “It was essentially just me and a good friend just living together.
“And, I don’t know what it was, but one day I woke up and I finally realized why I wasn’t so happy.
The biggest thing I want you all to realise is, you know, once you aren’t afraid to actually be yourself, that’s when you actually get to experience real happiness.
“I would wake up every single day putting up this facade, acting like somebody I wasn’t. I literally had to pretend to be straight every single day, which was exhausting.”
Luckily, Kearney’s coming out experience was largely extremely positive – although he also said that he has received some abusive messages over his sexuality.
He married his long term boyfriend earlier this year.
Kearney’s empowering message comes just months after he married his long term boyfriend.
Kearney and Joey Aleixo married on March 17, and their ceremony was even attended by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Writing on Instagram, Kearney said: “To call this man my husband is a dream come true and he is and always will be my soulmate. I am so excited to start this new journey as a married couple and my heart has never been so full of love.”
Meanwhile, Aleixo said that he will “never forget” the day he married his “best friend.”
Kearney came out as gay in 2014 to an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and followers.
When he was 25, he placed second in the World’s Strongest Man competition – and revealed in the same year that he was gay and had a boyfriend.
