Chris Martin has been a vocal LGBTQ ally for years, but he admitted in a new interview that he was “very homophobic” as a young boy growing up in England.
“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–ked for eternity’ and I was a kid discovering sexuality. ‘Maybe I’m gay, maybe I’m this, maybe I’m that, I can’t be this,’” the Coldplay frontman, 42, told Rolling Stone on Tuesday, December 3.
Martin recalled that some of his “hardcore” classmates “quite aggressively” told him at the time that he was “‘definitely gay’ in quite a full-on manner.”
When asked whether he also thought that he was gay, the singer told the magazine, “I don’t know and even if I am, I can’t be because it’s wrong. … If I am, I can’t be so that was creating a terrible turmoil.”
Martin explained that he started “to worry about” his sexuality at the age of 15. However, he got past his homophobic thoughts over time.
“I don’t know what happened, I was like, ‘Yeah, so what?’ and then it all just stopped overnight,” he recounted. “It was very interesting. Once I was like, ‘Yeah, so what if I’m gay.’”
The Grammy winner changed his mindset after realizing that a lot of his heroes are gay, which helped “ease a big pressure.” It also made him rethink his religious beliefs.
“[It] 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,’” he told Rolling Stone. “So for a few years, that was a bit wobbly and then eventually I just was like, ‘OK, I think I have my own relationship with what I think God is and it’s not really any one religion for me.’”
Martin went on to marry Gwyneth Paltrow in December 2003. They welcomed daughter Apple, now 15, and son Moses, now 13, before divorcing in July 2016. The entertainer has been dating Dakota Johnson since late 2017, while the Oscar winner, 47, married Brad Falchuk in September 2018.
