Will Young reveals homophobe threatened to ‘stab’ him for holding hands with boyfriend
The singer has recalled the harrowing incident ahead of the release of his debut book 'How to Be a Gay Man'.
By Will Stroude
Will Young has revealed a homophobe once threatened to “stab” him for holding hands with his then-boyfriend.
The ‘Leave Right Now’ singer, 41, recalled the harrowing incident to The Times as he prepares to release his first book, To Be a Gay Man, which charts his own journey to overcome “gay shame”.
“I was wandering through the East End about 14 years ago, holding hands with my then boyfriend, Julian, and we had people shouting at us. Someone actually threatened to stab us,” Young said.
The former Pop Idol winner, who is currently grieving the loss of win brother Rupert, who died earlier this month, added that he constantly has to monitor for places where he might “feel unwelcome or even unsafe”.
He went on: “I’ve had people threatening to stab me and I once had someone shouting ‘queer’ and ‘f****t’ at me from a Vauxhall Nova outside a pub in Hampstead.
“Although on that occasion, I just shouted ‘f****t’ back at them, so they got confused and drove off looking rather dejected.
“Someone also once rang my hotel room late at night to homophobically abuse me.”
Young, who came out as gay publicly in 2002 shortly after his Pop Idol victory, will use his upcoming book to explore the psychological issues which continue to plague LGBTQ people growing up in a hostile society.
It sees the former Attitude cover star “calling for an end to society’s legacy of gay shame, revealing the impact it had on his own life, how he learned to deal with it and how to be gay and happy.”
To Be a Gay Man is set for release on 3 September.