Rugby-turned-league star Gareth Thomas has spoken out about the turmoil he went through before coming to terms with the fact he was gay. The former captain of the Welsh rugby team has appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' show, saying before his marriage he used to visit church and "pray to be straight". "I even went to the extreme of marrying the perfect woman for me," he said. "I remember I used to go to the church we were due to get married in and I would sit there in the graveyard and look up to the steeple ... clench my hands and close my eyes as tight as I could and pray to be straight." Thomas came out publicly in 2009, after years of struggling to hide his sexuality from his family and team-mates. "I became the master of playing the straight bat- I would go to bars with the boys, I would always be the one to start a fight, to be outrageous and drink the most." The 36-year-oldrevealed that when he first told his parents there was silence, but three weeks later he visited them at home and saw three champagne glasses on the table. "My mother said 'Fetch the champagne from the fridge' and I replied that I didn't know why we were drinking champagne ... My father, who is a tough guy and doesn't say much, said 'Son I just want to sit here and toast to the rest of your life'. "I knew then that was an acceptance from my family." Mickey Rourke has expressed interest in playing Thomas in a movie about his life. Watch Gareth Thomas on Ellen below:
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 6th January 2011 - 12:21pm