Coming out is supposed to be the part where the closet door finally swings open and you get to breathe. For Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo, there was breathing — but apparently the internet wanted to make sure he did it through a straw.
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The 33-year-old rocker has opened up about the brutal fallout of coming out as gay after a 14-year marriage, revealing that his decision to live more openly was met with what he described as “a lot of homophobia.”
Shomo first came out to friends and family in September 2025. Then, in May 2026, he told the world he was a “proudly gay man” in a vulnerable Instagram post. Around the same time, he and his wife, Fleur Shomo, parted ways after 14 years together.
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And while there was plenty of love and support, there was also a deeply unpleasant reminder that some people apparently still have way too much free time.
Caleb Shomo Refused to Shrink Himself
Shomo said he had already made one important decision before stepping fully into his new chapter: he wasn’t going to make himself smaller to make other people comfortable.
“I had already decided, like, I’m not gonna water myself down at all,” he shared on the latest episode of The Breakdown with Nath & Johnny.
“I’m going to just do what I wanna do. I’m gonna wear what I wanna wear. I’m gonna sing how I wanna sing,” Caleb, 33, continued.
“I’m gonna look how I wanna look and just enjoy being an artist that’s allowed to do that, and that has the freedom to do that,” the songwriter added.
Honestly, that sounds like a pretty reasonable plan. Unfortunately, reasonable plans have never stopped homophobes from filing their unsolicited complaints.
“And that was met with a lot of opposition and a lot of … I mean, really, just a lot of homophobia, and a lot of people who really were not okay with me presenting that way at all, with what I was doing, any of it.”
For Shomo, the backlash wasn’t some brief unpleasantness that disappeared after a few angry comments. He said the opposition remained vocal even as Beartooth continued releasing music.
The Stage Still Had to Go On
The timing made everything even harder. Shomo was navigating his sexuality, the end of his marriage and the reaction from strangers while still having to get onstage and perform.
Because apparently life doesn’t come with a convenient “pause tour while emotionally processing everything” button.
Shomo explained that he eventually got off the internet for a while because he was “going through so much,” but the emotional toll followed him onto the road.
“I mean, a lot of the day I’d be spent in a really, really bad place and just trying to find enough energy and enough will to get myself warmed up and get on that stage and do my f**king job,” he said.
That’s perhaps the least glamorous part of coming out that doesn’t always make it into the celebratory Instagram posts: sometimes being authentic is exhilarating, and sometimes you’re exhausted, overwhelmed and still expected to hit every note.
“And it didn’t really change as we kept releasing more songs, and the very vocal opposition continued and still continues to,” Caleb said. “And, yeah, me coming out didn’t help that. And just being honest with people about who I am and what’s been going on.”
His Marriage Was Ending, Too
While Shomo was publicly finding his footing as a gay man, his personal life was undergoing an enormous transition.
He and Fleur had been together since 2012, but the couple parted ways in May 2026, bringing their 14-year relationship to an end. Fleur also addressed the situation publicly, describing it as a “very disorienting and hurtful” period while making clear that she would continue to “love and support Caleb.”
That support came as Shomo was simultaneously dealing with public scrutiny, professional pressure and the emotional reality of beginning an entirely different chapter of his life. There isn’t exactly a neat little checklist for that.
The Next Beartooth Record Could Get Very Personal
If Shomo’s next record feels emotionally loaded, that’s because it is.
He has already teased that his sexuality and everything surrounding his coming-out journey have given him plenty to process. Songs on Beartooth’s latest album, Pure Ecstasy, have been inspired by his experience with his sexuality, including the defiant lead single “Free.”
And Shomo isn’t pretending he has everything figured out.
“So I’m just trying to think, baby steps,” he stated.
That may be the most relatable part of the entire story. Coming out doesn’t magically turn life into a perfectly edited queer coming-of-age movie. Sometimes the victory is simply making it through the day, getting onstage, doing your work and taking the next step.
Shomo said he’s keeping his focus deliberately narrow for now: training for tour, giving audiences everything he has and working on the new record.
“The truth is I have no idea how it’s going to go,” Shomo said. “I’m trying, as of right now, to just keep my focus very narrow. I’m trying to keep my focus on training for tour, on knowing that, whether people show up or not to these shows, I’m going to give them the best show that I possibly can. And I’m working on a new record. And I have a lot that I need to say and a lot that I need to process and work through, and that’s the only way I can do it.”
And maybe that’s the real freedom Shomo was talking about all along. Not that coming out makes everything easy. Not that everyone suddenly understands. Not that the backlash disappears.
It’s that, after spending years trying to fit yourself into somebody else’s idea of who you’re supposed to be, you finally get to make the art, wear the clothes, sing the songs and exist as yourself.
Even when the comments section has opinions. Especially then.