The Australian icon came out in a tell-all interview on Channel 10 with Sir Michael Parkinson, explaining: “I’m not straight and this is only something that very recently – we’re talking in the past two weeks – I’ve been comfortable telling the closest people around me.”
He said he had wanted to come out for some time but felt he “couldn’t”.
“I didn’t feel as though I could. The problem was, I was asked at such a young age about my sexuality,” the 31-year-old said. That age was 16.
“I felt that the lie had become so big that I didn’t want people to question my integrity and a little bit of ego comes into this. I didn’t want people to think that I had lied about everything.
“I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man.”
Thorpe, who has struggled with depression and alcohol addiction, said he hoped he could make it “easier for others” to come out.
