Sam Smith Opened Up About Dealing With "Backlash" And "Unsupportive" Responses To Their Coming Out As Nonbinary

"It's been really, really hard to see the amount of people that are still so unsupportive of gender nonconforming people."

Sam Smith has opened up about their decision to publicly come out as nonbinary last year, admitting it was "more of a struggle" than they expected.

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"I've always had a war between my body and my mind," Sam revealed in a 2019 interview with Jameela Jamil. "Nonbinary/genderqueer is that you do not identify in a gender ... I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between."

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A few months later, the "Stay With Me" singer announced in a candid Twitter thread that they were now using "they"/"them" pronouns.

"After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I've decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out," they wrote. "I'm so excited and privileged to be surrounded by people that support me in this decision, but I've been very nervous about announcing this because I care too much about what people think."

"I understand there will be many mistakes and misgendering but all I ask is you please please try," they added. "I hope you can see me like I see myself now."

Well, during an appearance on the Late Late Show this week, Sam opened up a little bit about the public response to their coming out, admitting it's been both "absolutely incredible" and "really, really hard."

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"All in all, it's been wonderful," they began. "I've always felt the way I felt, and being able to tell everyone that and feel so much more open about certain parts of my personality and my life has been absolutely incredible."

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However, Sam revealed that they had actually made the decision to come out after a message they sent to their family about their pronouns was leaked to the public.

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"In a world where I wasn't a well-known person, I would have changed my pronouns and I would have got used to it in a normal way, which I actually tried to do," they explained. "A message I sent to my family about changing my pronouns got leaked, weirdly, so I had to make a decision to tell everyone and go for it."

"It's been amazing, but it's also been really, really hard to see all the backlash and the amount of people that are still so unsupportive of gender nonconforming people and trans people all around the world," they went on.

"It's definitely more of a struggle than I was expecting," Sam continued. "But I feel good in my skin, which is the prize and the wonderful thing."

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Sam also went on to say that another positive of their coming out is that they're now able to express themselves more freely in their music.

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"I just feel permission, now, to show all different sides of myself musically," Sam said. "Whether it's dancing, or who I'm singing about, or what I'm singing about, I just feel like I can show all of myself now and put all of myself into my music."

"Before, I felt scared to show my femininity," they explained. "I found that really scary. But now she's out."

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Watch Sam's full Late Late Show interview here:

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