Chris Martin admits struggle with sexuality and homophobia
Chris Martin has revealed that he questioned his sexuality as a teenager - but his own homophobia made him suppress his feelings.
The Coldplay frontman explained to Rolling Stone magazine how being bullied at boarding school and exploring Evangelical Christianity made him fear thoughts that he might be gay.
Martin, 42, said: “When I went to boarding school I walked a bit funny and I bounced a bit, and I was also very homophobic because I was like, ‘If I’m gay, I’m completely f****ed for eternity’ and I was a kid discovering sexuality.
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“‘Maybe I’m gay, maybe I’m this, maybe I’m that, I can’t be this’ so I was terrified and I walked a bit funny.
“And I was in a boarding school with a bunch of quite hardcore kids who were also gone for their thing and, for a few years, they would very much say, ‘You’re definitely gay,’ in quite a full-on manner, quite aggressively telling me that and it was weird for me for a few years.
“I don’t know [if I’m gay] and even if I am, I can’t be because it’s wrong… If I am, I can’t be.' So I was creating a terrible turmoil.”
But the Hymn For The Weekend singer claimed he had an “overnight” revelation.
Martin said: “About 15-and-a-half, I don’t know what happened, I was like, ‘Yeah, so what?’ and then it all just stopped overnight. It was very interesting. I was just, ‘So what if I’m gay?’
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“I don’t know what it was, maybe it was reading about Elton [John], I don’t know. Maybe it was growing up a bit and having a bit more exposure to the world - thinking, ‘A lot of my heroes are gay,’ or whatever. Whatever they are, it doesn’t really matter.
“So what that did was ease a big pressure and then made me question, ‘Hey maybe some of this stuff that I’m learning about God and everything - I’m not sure if I subscribe to all of this particular religion.'”
Martin was married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow from 2003 to 2014. They have two children - 15-year-old daughter Apple and 13-year-old son Moses.
He is believed to have been dating Fifty Shades Of Grey star Dakota Johnson on-and-off since 2017.