Olympic diver Tom Daley recently sat down with The Guardian for a revealing interview in which he discusses coming to terms with his gay identity in the public eye, his relationship with Dustin Lance Black, and his life as an athlete.
Daley spent a portion of the interview discussing his personal journey to living as his authentic self.
“I guess it has always been in the back of my head, but you never really know," Daley told The Guardian. "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?'... 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.”
Tom Daley first made waves throughout the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in late 2013 when he came out of the closet via a YouTube video -- stopping short of using identifiers such as "gay" or "bisexual." In the video Daley shared that he was in a relationship with a man, later revealed to be screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
Five months later, Daley offered clarification about his sexuality, telling the world "I am a gay man now." However, Daley still doesn't seem to be a fan of labels. He told The Guardian,
“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... [Dustin and I] 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!”
Head here to read The Guardian interview in full.
