British icon Michael Gunning has opened up about how he felt while taking the brave step to come out in 2018. The former pro swimmer has retired from the competitive level and now coaches children, while also working to safeguard and mentor the next generation.
Michael, 30, competed for both Britain and Jamaica throughout his career, and made history as the first Jamaican athlete to come out as gay while competing on a national level.
Following his inspirational coming out, the sportsman – still recorded as the fastest Jamaican swimmer to this day – also teamed up with his pal Tom Daley in the BBC documentary Tom Daley: Illegal to be Me, exploring even further what it means to be out and proud while in the spotlight.
Michael reflected on his experiences just after speaking on a panel at an NSPCC event, during which he advocated for the ‘Listen Up, Speak Up’ campaign and looked back at what drove him to come out despite the hurdles set against him.
Speaking to the Mirror, he admitted: “I was petrified before coming out, and I did not know how the reaction was going to be. But I think I realised – if it wasn’t me, who would it be? If it wasn’t at that point, when would it be?”
The star added of his brave timing: “So many athletes come out when they’ve retired, but I really wanted to just try to be true to myself and just show people that it’s okay.”
Sir Ian McKellen – who similarly made waves as an actor by coming out during a time that being gay was still illegal in many countries he performed in – recently encouraged more people to come out, saying that staying in the closet is ‘silly.’
Michael agreed that being true and open has made life better for him in so many ways, and also revealed that he’d had a beautiful meeting with the beloved actor.
He shared: “I actually met Ian McKellen at the Stonewall Gala. And he inspired me, because his generation kind of set up what I went through when coming out, with the laws and everything in place.”
The swimmer enthused of their heartfelt kinship: “He said that he was inspired by me, which – I sat there thinking I was so inspired by him! I couldn’t believe it.”
“I think actually the message is no one gets it right, everyone’s on a journey. I think it’s all about supporting people along the process. I have no regrets about coming out as gay when I did,” Michael shared of individual sexuality and openness.
Tragically, the national representative did admit: “I still get death threats quite a lot, unfortunately, but I think it’s just about changing mindsets – changing hearts and mindsets.”
While talking about the vile death threats he receives to this day, Michael still sees the possibility for change and betterment. He was also quick to add that despite shocking Jamaica by coming out – with the island known on paper for its legal intolerance towards homosexuality – he was still wholly accepted and loved by his teammates thanks to their respect and understanding of him.
“Being on the Jamaican team when I was, I think people accepted me because they understood me and they knew me, and I think sometimes it’s just about understanding someone, having a conversation and helping educate,” he said.
Even at the end of our conversation – after so movingly explaining the emotional ups and downs of his personal journey – Michael couldn’t hold back a huge smile as he concluded: “It is so colourful when you can finally be your true self.”
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.