Singer Sam Smith casually came out in the June/July 2014 issue of The Fader, when he told the music mag that the inspiration for his album, In the Lonely Hour, was "a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn't love me back." Similar to how Frank Ocean posted an open letter on Tumblr about his bisexuality or Zachary Quinto relating to Angels in America "as a gay man" in New York Magazine, it was the sort of chill non-announcement that more and more celebs are opting for.
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During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Smith went into more detail about why he decided to come out when he did. The thing is, it wasn't much of a coming out for Smith himself or those in his everyday life.
"It didn't feel like a coming out. I came out when I was, like, four years old," he said with a laugh. "My mom said she knew when I was, like, three, so I didn't have to actually properly come out…I came out at a very, very young age. I kind of felt like I just had to mention it before I released my record, just so people knew…who it was about, and it felt like a brave thing to do as well. I wanted to do it before, because…if I did it afterwards, people probably would have thought I was lying just to sell records, which is not the case."
On Ellen, he said, "I get upset sometimes. Because I don't talk about it too much, people say to me, you know, 'He doesn't want to be a spokesperson for the gay community, and it's like, I do! Of course I do. But, I want to be a spokesperson for everyone, you know? Straight people, gay people, bisexual [people], anything, you know? I don't want it to be limited."
Smith added, "I'm 22 as well. I'm still trying to figure everything out!" (Huffington Post)