Jake Daniels Opens Up About Life Before and After Coming Out

Jake Daniels recently opened up about his life before and after coming out, as well as how it transformed him as a person.

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(c) Instagram: @officialjakedaniels

The 18-year-old English professional football player came out as gay on May 16, 2022, which is the same month that he made his professional debut for League One club. In a new interview with Attitude, he revealed about what his life was like before coming out, sharing:

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“I was scared and didn’t know what the reaction was gonna be, so [my life was spent] just trying to be a person that I wasn’t as much as I possibly could, day-to-day.”

“I wanted to experiment, and I couldn’t. I didn’t want to do that secretly; I didn’t want to get found out. It was a lot of things that built up. And I was getting injured at football because of the stress. I wasn’t eating; I wasn’t drinking properly. Then I was out of football, so it was even worse. It became a cycle that I wanted to get out of,” Daniels recalled. 

He continued,

“I was getting told to go and do tests for depression and anxiety, when inside I knew what the problem was. I was like, ‘I can’t miss any more football time’; I had to come out.”

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The football player also shared how coming out changed him for the better, expressing:

“I think the biggest thing is my maturity — I’ve grown as a person. I’m able to handle different situations better than I feel like I would if I hadn’t come out.”

“If I hadn’t come out and had that experience I would have been a bit shy — in my shell. It’s definitely brought out a mature side of me. I feel like I’ve grown up quicker than I would have expected,” he further stated.

Since Justin Fashanu, Daniels is the first gay male professional to come out in British football.


Source: attitude.co.uk

1 thought on “Jake Daniels Opens Up About Life Before and After Coming Out”

  1. Completely relate to having such terrible depression and anxiety. Happy much of his depression & anxiety subsided after coming out as gay. Unfortunately after I came out as gay I still struggled with both but they got much better once I was able to be honest.

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