Sam Smith has opened up about the hate they received after coming out as non-binary.
Back in 2019, the Unholy singer came out as non-binary and genderqueer during an interview with Jameela Jamil.
“I’ve always had a little bit of a war going within my body and my mind. I do think like a woman sometimes, in my head. Sometimes I’ve questioned, ‘Do I want a sex change?’ and it’s something I still think about, like: ‘Do I want to?'” they said.
“But I don’t think it is. When I saw the words’ non-binary’ and ‘genderqueer’, and I read into it, and I heard this person speaking, I was like ‘, Fuck, that’s me.'”
Since that fateful day, Smith has remained an open book regarding their gender identity journey.
While appearing on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music show, the beloved talent talked about the struggles they faced after coming out.
“My family can communicate with me now in an even better way. My love life has become better from it. I feel lovable. I feel comfortable in my skin,” they explained.
While Smith gushed about feeling at home with their identity and pronouns, they also admitted that navigating the hateful rhetoric post coming was “really hard.”
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“I think the only negatives in the struggle have been my public life and my job, and the amount of hate and sh*tiness that came my way was just exhausting. It was really hard,” they told Lowe.
“This isn’t me sitting at home googling my name… it was in the f**king news. It was hard not to look. I can deal with not Googling myself, not reading comments.
“That’s something I can control. What people don’t realize with trans non-binary people in the UK is… it’s happening in the street.”
The Stay With Me singer also revealed that they’ve had people spit and yell at them in public due to their gender identity.
“What I find hard about it is if that’s happening to me – and I’m famous, I’m a popstar – can you imagine what other queer kids are feeling,” they added.
While Smith has dealt with hate and pushback from both online and in-person trolls, the Latch singer has perceived and continued to make incredible strides in the music industry.
Back in 2022, the beloved talent made LGBTQ+ history when their track Unholy – which also features Kim Petras – reached the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
The landmark achievement made Smith the first openly non-binary solo artist to obtain a Billboard number one single. Petras also became the first openly trans artist to reach the top spot.
In addition to breaking the charts in 2022, Smith just released their fourth studio album Gloria on 27 January – which has already received rave reviews from critics and fans.
Watch Smith’s full interview here or below.
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