Connery was one of my first crushes, swimmer reveals
SWIMMER MARK Foster has revealed one of his early crushes was Sean Connery – although he admitted at the time he felt it was “not right” to be gay.
The 47-year-old Olympic champion, who last week revealed his sexuality after years of keeping it away from the public eye, also said he regrets leaving his coming out until now, but that it was the right time for him.
Foster told Winq magazine: “I wasn’t a tortured soul, going ‘I’m really, really gay, and I want to be really, really gay.’
“But at the same time I did hide it. So I suppose on some level somewhere I’d obviously learnt that you should have a girlfriend and then you get married, and that’s the right way.” Foster, who has been named
Winq magazine’s Man of the Year, said that he was watching a James Bond film starring Connery when he was around 12 years old when he told his two sisters: “I quite fancy him.”
The retired sportsman said, of their reaction: “I always remember being embarrassed by saying it, because it was like, ‘Ooh, you fancy men’, and I was like, ‘It’s not right, is it?’”
He said that opportunities arose for him to come out over the years, including during his time on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 and when he was rumoured to be in a relationship with Rebecca Adlington, his fellow commentator during the Rio Olympics last year.
He said he does regret not coming out until now, though, and added: “I can regret everything.”