Dame Kelly Holmes has revealed that getting Covid helped her to come out publicly.
The 55-year-old Olympic gold medallist , who came out publicly as a lesbian in June 2022, and two years later joked that she was 鈥渓iving her youth鈥 after coming out, reflected on her personal journey on the BBC鈥檚 LGBT Sport Podcast.
Holmes previously told the Sunday Mirror that she first realised she was gay in 1988, when she was in the armed services and a fellow female soldier kissed her. However, fear of prosecution 鈥 under a ban on LGBTQ+ service members that remained in place until 2000 鈥 forced her to stay silent.
She told former boxer Nicola Adams, who presents the podcast, that contracting Covid sparked a chain of events that led to her living freely.
鈥業 don鈥檛 want to live my life like this鈥
鈥淐ovid became quite traumatic鈥 I was internalising those thoughts of 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to live my life like this鈥, she shared, adding that if she would鈥檝e passed those close to her would reflect not the 鈥渟hame鈥 of her not living authentically.
This led her to speak to a psychologist for the first time, which led her to the realisation that she was ready to publicly come out.
She said: 鈥滻 needed to explain why I couldn鈥檛 come out because of the army, because a lot of people didn鈥檛 know about the army ban鈥 nobody knew that that was actually the underlying reason for not coming out.鈥
Holmes previously explained that coming out has made her 鈥渉appy for the first time in my life鈥, and said it鈥檚 鈥渃hanged everything about me鈥.
In 2023, Holmes stepped out with her girlfriend Louise Cullen, a sports massage therapist from Northern Ireland, at the European Diversity Awards. She has since shared that she feels she鈥檚 鈥渇ound the one鈥 in Cullen.
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