I came out as gay when I was just 11, reveals Sam Smith
‘They shouted insults at me’
SAM SMITH has spoken in depth for the first time about the homophobic abuse he endured as a boy.
The 22-year-old pop star already believed he was gay by the time he got to secondary school and said he came out to his classmates when he was only 11.
In a candid interview, he told of how he would suffer torrents of abuse from other children, who branded him a ‘faggot’.
Since finding fame, the Grammy and Brit awards winner has never hidden his sexuality but this is the first time he has spoken so openly about the difficulties he faced growing up.
Smith said speaking out was vital and he had been encouraged to do so by American chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, who is a lesbian.
He said: ‘She said to me that the fact that I’m openly gay and doing what I’m doing is an important thing. She said a kid who is feeling suicidal will look at me and say, “He’s accepted so it’s OK, I want to be like him”. That’s why it’s so important.’
Recalling the torment he suffered at school, Smith said: ‘The toughest time for me was my first year in secondary school when I hadn’t come out as gay. It was actually the denying of being gay that was getting me bullied.
‘Guys were asking me all the time, “Are you gay?” I would say no and that would rile them even more.
‘I came out at the end of year seven when I was 11. That shut a lot of the bullies up. I also made friends with some really nice girls and was singing.
‘I’d like to think I was a nice person and people respected me at my school.’ He added: ‘A bunch of boys from a rival school would shout insults at me as I walked from my home to the train station. I remember walking to the station getting “faggot” shouted at me all the time.
‘It was the most mortifying thing. Not so much for me. I knew these people were stupid, uneducated t****. But I was upset as I was with my friends and I wondered if they were embarrassed to be walking with me because people are hurling abuse.’
After leaving school and moving to London, he once saw this abuse turn physical when a stranger punched him in the neck as he walked down the street. Smith said the assault was ‘definitely homophobic’.
Speaking at The Metro Centre in London, which provides help to young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Smith also recalled his first experience in a gay club when he was 17.
He confessed his ‘whole world crashed’ when a fellow patron made a derogatory comment about him as he went into The Village in Soho, wearing make-up and dressed ‘quite flamboyantly’.
He said: ‘I thought it was going to be a homecoming, that I would go and all of a sudden everything would be OK. But I remember walking in and this gay guy turned to his mate and said something really nasty about me. I knew then it was going to take a lot longer to be accepted.
‘There’s a lot of homophobia and bullying in the gay community.’ Smith said it was vital that the gay community supports each other, adding: ‘There’s also a lot of body dysmorphia in the gay community, which means if you’re not toned and skinny it can be awful.’
He said he found solace in the acceptance of his family and friends and is determined to be a role model, providing support for young gay people.
He split with his boyfriend Jonathan Zeizel earlier this year. The pair had a short relationship after meeting when Mr Zeizel was a backing dancer on the music video to one of Smith’s tracks.
His debut studio album, In The Lonely Hour, was the second best-selling album of 2014 in the UK, and the third best-selling in the US. As of February 2015, the album has sold more than 3,390,500 copies.