SHARKEY: I WAS €250 AN HOUR ESCORT
...but presidential wannabe Kevin insists he was never paid for sex
KEVIN Sharkey has opened up on his past as a male escort revealing: “I never had sex for money.”
The 57-year-old presidential hopeful took the €250-an-hour job after falling on hard times in Ibiza.
The artist and former TV star said he had nothing to hide, adding: “I believe we have to move away from shaming people for things.”
PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Kevin Sharkey has set the record straight on his past, declaring: “I was a paid escort, but I never had sex for money.”
The 57-year-old artist said he is not ashamed of anything he has done in his life and does not see why it should affect his chances of running for the Aras.
Former TV presenter Sharkey, who says he wants to be Ireland’s first black president, got €250-an-hour as a male escort when he fell on hard times while living in Ibiza.
He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “For six weeks in Spain I worked as an escort but I didn’t get paid for sex. I went out for dinner with people to restaurants and that sort of thing.
“It was at the time when the crash happened. I gave an interview [afterwards] and was a bit overenthusiastic, I tried to make it more juicy, but the reality is there was no paid sex.
“I’m a big lad, I can take whatever people say, I’ve nothing to hide. Anyone who wants to read about my past just has to google me, it’s all in the public domain.
“That’s the way I want it as I grew up in a society surrounded by secrets and lies. You have to develop a thick skin in life.
“I’m neither a victim nor a survivor, I’m a winner, and I believe we have to move away from shaming people for things.
“In terms of scrutinising my past, when the nominations come then that is when the gates of hell will open.”
Sharkey has spoken openly about his difficult upbringing and childhood and documented his struggles in his autobiography.
He spent six months in a mother and baby home in Dublin before he was adopted by a Donegal family. He was the only black man and the only gay person in the fishing village of Killybegs. He has also spoken of beatings at the hand of his adoptive mother, and how she would tie him to the bed – as well as his battle with cocaine addiction. At one point he counted Whitney Houston among his celebrity clients and he once created a life-size cow covered with €18,000 of real cash for a charity auction – and called it Moolah.
But Sharkey, whose art featured in Kanye West’s American Girl video, lost his galleries in Dublin, London and Ibiza when the recession hit.
He revealed: “Four years ago I was living in a campsite in Co Wicklow, until I couldn’t afford it and had to go into a hostel in Amien Street in Dublin.
“I spent two weeks there and it was horrific. Some fella came in so drunk he couldn’t find his bed and threatened to kill someone.”
Now living in Balbriggan, he fears the “marathon” of council meetings he’s attending to lobby for support are a waste of time.
Candidates need the support of either 20 elected members of the Oireachtas or four local authorities who must make their decision by September 26.
He said: “It is window dressing, I call it seven-minute democracy as that’s all the time you get to say why you could be the next president.
“We’re witnessing a mockery of democracy, which is a real shame
You have to develop a thick skin. We have to move away from shaming folk
KEVIN SHARKEY DUBLIN YESTERDAY
because the taxpayer is paying their [councillors’] wages. It’s like they’re going through the motions.
“I feel I’ve come across quite well. I talk about the death penalty for crimes of violence against the elderly, but I don’t think we’ll ever bring it back.
“I’m just making the point that locking these thugs up in prison where they spend all day in the gym and come out with a buff body is not a punishment, it’s a holiday.
“I’ve had councillors come up to me after saying they agreed with what I said, but they had already been told who they could vote for.” While he is all for an open contest Sharkey also feels the field of potential candidates is over-subscribed and like a “carnival”.
He added: “It seems some people are using this as a way to up their profile. That’s disappointing.
“But I’m not sorry I started this. I have several successful businessmen who say they will back me. One of them has €50million in the bank, so money is not an issue.”