Ian Thorpe opens up on Coming Out

Coming out for anyone is rarely easy; coming out in public when you’re a gold medal Olympic athlete with the eyes of the world on you is a huge pool to be swimming in.  Just ask Australian, Ian “the torpedo” Thorpe, recently opened up about his experience of coming out in 2014 and spending years in the closet.

Speaking on ABC show “Anh’s Brush With Fame,” he confessed: “I wish I had come out earlier.”

Ian Thorpe is currently dating model Ryan Channing.

“I think it’s important to have marriage equality in this country, and I think it’s important for it to happen now.  I know what it was like to grow up as a young person, like a second-class citizen, feeling as though what I’m doing is wrong. That’s what’s implied when you don’t have the same kinds of rights as other people.”