Joe McElderry comes out as gay

Last year’s X Factor winner Joe McElderry has come out as gay. McElderry’s coming out follows the hacking of his Twitter account last month in which hackers tweeted rumours about his sexuality. The star has acknowledged that the Twitter incident helped him address issues of his sexuality and realise he was gay.

 

Last year’s X Factor winner Joe McElderry has come out as gay. McElderry’s coming out follows the hacking of his Twitter account last month in which hackers tweeted rumours about his sexuality. The star has acknowledged that the Twitter incident helped him address issues of his sexuality and realise he was gay. Although at the time it was widely reported that the singer denied the Tweets made on Twitter and stated, once again, he was straight McElderry has now revealed the hacking was a turning point for him.

 

“I was really angry at first – thinking, ‘How dare they hack me’? But after a while I looked at the message and thought, ‘Well, they’re not that far from the truth’. I think the Twitter thing was the point when I realised I was gay. I just looked at it and thought, ‘Should I be more bothered about this’? Because I wasn’t, that’s when it clicked and I thought maybe I was. It was a turning point, definitely.” – Joe McElderry talking to The Sun

 

The singer has the full support of Simon Cowell as his X Factor mentor Cheryl Cole in coming out to the public. He isn’t the first winner of a talent contest to come out as gay; Pop Idol winner Will Young revealed his sexuality shortly after winning the competition while over in the states American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert also confirmed his sexuality after some speculation. Recent singers to come out as gay, or bisexual, include Ricky Martin and former Blue singer Duncan James.

 

(Originally published as an ATV Insider Exclusive)