While Gus Kenworthy is the first action sports star to come out, he revealed in a recent interview that he would have made the decision earlier if he did not fear losing sponsors.
Rolling Stone, in its report, revealed that top freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, after winning a silver medal at the Sochi Olympics 2014, badly wanted to kiss his boyfriend but could not because it would "tarnish his image."
"I wanted so badly to fit in, and I ended up doing a lot of things I didn't want to, like sleeping with girls," the 24-year old freestyle medalist said.
One of the factors that held him back, according to Gus Kenworthy, was that he feared disappointing the sponsors. He said, "I didn't want to do something that would tarnish my image... and maybe my sponsors wouldn't want to put my face on something."
The report added that Kenworthy started feeling the stress due to being who he is not at the X Games in January this year. He shared that he was so distracted resulting to a disappointing run. He was always paranoid about making mistakes on interviews and that he'd out himself if he was not so careful. So that in October this year, he finally decided to come out in an interview for ESPN magazine.
"It makes me wonder why I waited so long," he said.
Today, Gus Kenworthy is very vocal about having a heavy weight taken off his shoulders after deciding to come out. He receives overwhelming support from the skiing community, even from Hollywood celebrities like Chloe Moretz, Miley Cyrus and others.
"I don't know exactly how everything will change, but I just know that I already feel a burden taken off of me and I'm just looking forward to the rest of my life. I'm ready to embrace who I am and be comfortable in my skin and see where it takes me," Kenworthy previously told USA Today.
