Sat 19 Dec 2009 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Wales rugby great Gareth Thomas has come out of the closet, telling the UK's Daily Mail newspaper he feels "a sudden sense of relief after keeping it secret for so long." Out: Rugby giant Gareth Thomas He says he struggled to suppress his true sexual orientation his whole life, and contemplated suicide as he dealt with fears over coming out. "I'd been through every emotion under the sun tying to deal with this," he says. "I was like a ticking bomb. I thought I could suppress it, keep it locked away in some dark corner of myself, but I couldn't." Thomas, 35, was married to his "childhood sweetheart" Gemma until 2006, the year he started coming out to his family and teammates. "After keeping it secret for so long, I felt a huge rush of relief," he explains. Hearing the news from his coach, two of his teammates later patted him on the back and said "We don't care. Why didn't you tell us before?" Not a single person his distanced themselves from him since he came out to those around him, he adds. "I'm proud of who I am. I feel I have achieved everything I could ever possibly have hoped to achieve out of rugby, and I did it being gay. I want to send a positive message to other gay people that they can do it too." Thomas captained the Wales rugby team in 2005 to their first Grand Slam victory since 1978. He captained the British Lions tour of New Zealand the same year. Gareth Thomas' full interview with the Daily Mail is online here.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Saturday, 19th December 2009 - 9:11pm