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“I needed to say it”: Ian Thorpe opens up about coming out

<p dir="ltr">Ian Thorpe has opened up about the moment he first decided to speak out about his sexuality during an interview with English television presenter Sir Michael Parkinson, and how he wished had come out earlier.</p> <p dir="ltr">The former Olympic swimmer spoke about the 2014 interview during Sunday night’s episode of <em>This Is Your Life</em>, telling host Melissa Doyle he was “comfortable” coming out at that moment.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I was always doing this interview with Sir Michael Parkinson. I had just come out to my family and to my very, very closest friends,” the 39-year-old said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I had spent some time with [Sir Michael Parksinson] before the interview and told him, ‘You should ask me if I’m gay because I’m going to tell you I am’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Thorpe added that it was the first time he felt he could put himself “out there” and be his “authentic self”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I needed to say it,” he continued. “It was the first time I felt I was comfortable enough to put myself out there. It was important to be my authentic self.”</p> <p dir="ltr">During the 2014 interview, he said: “I’ve thought about this for a long time. I’m not straight. And this is only something that very recently – in the past two weeks – I’ve been comfortable telling the closest people around me exactly that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Referring to the first time he was asked about his sexuality at 16 years of age, Thorpe said he didn’t know at that stage but “was still gay at the end of the day”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Yes I lied about it,” he said. “I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The then-31-year-old also spoke about his fears of letting his friends, family and the country down by being open about his sexuality.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Part of me didn’t know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay. But I’m telling the world that I am,” he said, adding that the support of his family and friends made him wish he’d come out sooner.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7af7a3df-7fff-44bf-a641-28c4d4521832"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Twitter</em></p>

TV

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The $22 item behind Adele’s stunning new look

<p>UK singing superstar Adele hasn’t just transformed her body over recent weeks and months – she’s completely changed her entire way of thinking.</p> <p>The revelation came after she showed off her amazing 45kg weight loss on Instagram to her millions of followers.</p> <p>But at just 32 years of age, Adele has now gone on to share the fact that her mind has been changed as much as her body – and she credits that transformation to just one book.</p> <p>Called <em>Untamed, Stop Pleasing, Start Living</em> by Glennon Doyle, the self-help book that Adele has been relying on can be purchased at Kmart or BigW stores for a mere $22.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CD4-gPAgkDl/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CD4-gPAgkDl/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">If you’re ready - this book will shake your brain and make your soul scream. I am so ready for myself after reading this book! It’s as if I just flew into my body for the very first time. Whew! Anyone who has any kind of capacity to truly let go and give into yourself with any kind of desire to hold on for dear life - Do it. Read it. Live it. Practice it. We are a lot! But we are meant to be a lot! .. “A good life is a hard life!” Read this book and have a highlighter on hand to make notes because you’ll want to refer back to it trust me! I never knew that I am solely responsible for my own joy, happiness and freedom!! Who knew our own liberation liberates those around us? Cause I didn’t!! I thought we were meant to be stressed and disheveled, confused and selfless like a Disney character! ProBloodyFound!! You’re an absolute don Glennon ♥️</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/adele/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> Adele</a> (@adele) on Aug 14, 2020 at 5:43pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p><br />"If you're ready – this book will shake your brain and make your soul scream," Adele shared with her Instagram followers.</p> <p>"I never knew that I am solely responsible for my own joy, happiness and freedom!!</p> <p>"Who knew our own liberation liberates those around us? Cause I didn't!! I thought we were meant to be stressed and dishevelled, confused and selfless like a Disney character!"</p> <p>According to book reviews, <em>Untamed, Stop Pleasing, Start Living</em> by Glennon Doyle is designed to help women question who they were before "the world told you who to be", helping guide readers to dare to say "no" when they are expected to say "yes".</p> <p>Images: Adele / Instagram</p>

Books

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"She’s embarrassed": Meghan Markle's half-brother Thomas opens up to Mel Doyle

<p>Meghan Markle’s half brother has shed some light on what her family is really like in an interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night.</p> <p>Speaking to Melissa Doyle, Thomas Markle Jr said that he would like to one day be an uncle to her children.</p> <p>When asked about getting an invitation to her wedding, he said: “No. I don’t know. When do they go out? Nobody has my address anyway. I’m pretty hard to get hold of.”</p> <p>He said however he would like to see her again and hopes she would like him to get to know her future children.</p> <p>“I think an uncle is a pretty important role,” he said. “I didn’t even know that we had a falling-out, so I would like to see her again, yeah. I want to give her a hug and tell her how proud I am of her, but, you know, I really have to travel a really long way to do that.”</p> <p>When asked if she was “embarrassed” by her family, Markle Jr said it would be a fair conclusion to make.</p> <p>“She’s probably embarrassed at some of the stories and accusations and, you know ...” he said, before Doyle asked him if their family was “fractured”.</p> <p>“I think my family’s always been fractured,” he said.</p> <p>“I think now, more than ever, it should be the time for everybody to put their differences aside and just, you know, be a family. We have a small family. It may be broken up, but it’s still a family.”</p> <p>“She can’t forget about her family, because ... we’re never gonna go away. We’re always gonna be her family,” he said.</p> <p><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F7sundaynight%2Fvideos%2F2276260469051521%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p> <p>Markle Jr also spoke about the effect the family fighting would be having on Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle.</p> <p>“You know, my dad bent over backwards and really, really just paved the way for her and gave her every single thing she needed to get where she’s at today. It would hurt. It wouldn’t irritate me, but it would just hurt,” he said.</p> <p>When asked by Doyle how their father would be coping with all their dirty laundry being aired publicly, Markle Jr replied: “He’s probably not happy. Well, you see the look on his face in those pictures that they finally got of him. So doesn’t look very happy. And he’s a really private person, so ...”</p> <p>Markle Jr also said he was not sure if her father would walk Meghan down the aisle, but thought he should do it.</p> <p>“My dad just wants to be left alone. He doesn’t like spotlight. He doesn’t like anything ... interviews. You know, and that’s why he moved down there, to just be alone. But he’s gotta come out now, though,” he said.</p> <p>“I mean, he’s gotta step up to the plate... and walk his daughter down that aisle.”</p>

Relationships