Tom Daley is in a relationship – with a man, he revealed in a video this morning.
Hold the presses… Tom has something to say…
The Olympic diver has announced that he is happy in his new relationship – with a man – although he still ‘fancies’ girls.
Tom’s emotional video can be watched here.
The transcript of the video is here:
Hi guys, so most of you are probably wondering why I’m doing this video.
My life’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, to say the least, over the last couple of years. Losing my dad to cancer in 2011 was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. Then winning an Olympic medal last year in 2012 in front of a home crowd, finishing my A Levels this year.. it’s been hectic.
One thing I consider to be pretty important is to have some form of private life and you’re probably thinking ‘well why did you do a book and why did you do a documentary and stuff’ but I’ve only ever talked about things I feel comfortable talking about.
When I was younger I didn’t like talking about a bullying situation at school, I didn’t like talking about my dad because obviously at the time it was a sensitive subject.
It’s one of those things where in an ideal world I shouldn’t be doing this video because it shouldn’t matter but recently I was misquoted in an interview and it made me feel really angry and frustrated. You know, emotions that I’ve never felt before when reading quotes about myself.
Honesty, for me is something I really do believe in. And I’ve always been honest. I may have been vague in some of my answers, but one thing I’ve never felt that comfortable talking about are my relationships, because it is what I get asked even if I’m doing sporting interviews ‘do you have a girlfriend, who are you seeing’ all that kind of stuff.
I mean, I’ve been dating girls and I’ve never really had a serious relationship to talk about. Now I kind of feel ready to talk about relationships. Come Spring this year, my life changed, massively, when I met someone and they make me feel so happy, so safe and everything just feels great.
Well that someone is a guy. And it did take me by surprise a little bit. It was always in the back of my head that something like that could happen. But it wasn’t until spring this year that something just clicked, it felt right. And I was like: OK.
Like I said, my whole world just changed right there and then. Of course, I still fancy girls, but right now I’m dating a guy and I couldn’t be happier. It feels safe and it just feels right.
People are going to have their own opinions and people are going to make a deal of this. Is it a big deal? I don’t think so. People are going to call me a liar, it’s going to be big, but I wanted to say something and right now I’m ready and I wanted to do it.
People will think: ‘what would your dad say?’ Well he always said: ‘if you’re happy, I’m happy’ and right now I couldn’t be happier. My mum’s been so supportive as well, I can count the number of people on my hand that I’ve told, but all my friends and family that I have told have been so supportive, which has been great.
But I told the rest of my family today and let’s just say they had mixed opinions, lots of them didn’t believe it, lots of them wanted me to keep it quiet. Some said why don’t you just do a statement, why don’t you do a magazine cover, why don’t you do a TV interview? But I didn’t want to get my words twisted, I wanted to put an end to all the rumours and just say it, to tell you guys. Because it’s what I want to do.
My friends and family are always there to support me and I hope you guys can be too. I mean I’m still Tom, I still want to win a gold medal for Great Britain in Rio in 2016. I’m still as motivated as ever to do that, and it would be great to have you guys on that journey too.
I just wanted to make sure that I got to tell you guys before I head off to Houston for a training camp I’ve got up until Christmas. I’m glad that I’ve got it off my chest.
And I hope you can join me on my journey to Rio 2016, too.
