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I'm Coming Out
I'm Coming Out episodes
- #7 Darren Kennedy on how homophobic bullying nearly broke him but ultimately made him stronger
Darren is a TV presenter and has hosted shows for the BBC, Channel 5 and regularly appears on ITV’s This Morning. He is a columnist for the Irish Independent and his writing has also been featured in the Telegraph and Attitude magazine. Darren has designed a range of glasses with Specsavers and he has established his own skincare and grooming brand, Kennedy and Co. He is also a top lifestyle influencer and one of the UK and Ireland’s most stylish men. You can currently catch Darren presenting Buyer’s Bootcamp on Virgin One in Ireland.
We met up in Dublin and Darren told me about
- feeling different growing up,
- his teenage crushes,
- the bullying he encountered throughout his adolescence and how it ultimately made him stronger,
- the first person he came out to
- and how he felt when marriage equality was passed in Ireland.
Links
www.darrenkennedy.co.uk
twitter @darrenken
Instagram & facebook @darrenkennedyofficial
28 min - #6 Jonny Benjamin on how his struggles with his sexuality impacted on his mental health & why coming out was the best thing he's ever done
**Quite a lot of clipping on this interview so had to edit out most of the original interview-apologies. Will be sorted for series two.**
Jonny first came to the public’s attention in 2014 when he launched a campaign to find the stranger, who six years previously had talked him down from the edge of Waterloo Bridge, as he was about to take his own life. The campaign to find the good samartian soon went viral and a few weeks later Jonny was reunited with the man who saved his life, Neil Laybourn. A documentary which followed Jonny’s search and reunion with Neil was aired on Channel Four the following year.
Jonny is now a mental health campaigner, public speaker, documentary maker and vlogger. He was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2017 and has set up his own charity Beyond Shame, Beyond Stigma. He is also an author and his incredible first book The Stranger on the Bridge was released last year and included a foreword from none other than the Duke of Cambridge himself Prince William (link below).
When I met up with Jonny we chatted about;
- the shame he felt over his sexuality and how this struggle really impacted on his mental health
- how he came out to his parents and family
- the worrying mental health statistics for the community
- why we need more LGBTQ+ allies
- and our shared admiration for the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna.
Links
To buy Jonny’s book ‘Stranger on the Bridge’- https://amzn.to/3336rrK
Twitter & Facebook @mrjonnybenjamin
Jonny’s charity
https://beyondshamebeyondstigma.co.uk
31 min - #6 Jonny Benjamin on growing up gay in the Jewish community and how his struggles with his sexuality impacted on his mental health.
Jonny first came to the public’s attention in 2014 when he launched a campaign to find the stranger, who six years previously had talked him down from the edge of Waterloo Bridge, as he was about to take his own life. The campaign to find the good samartian soon went viral and a few weeks later Jonny was reunited with the man who saved his life, Neil Laybourn. A documentary which followed Jonny’s search and reunion with Neil was aired on Channel Four the following year.
Jonny is now a mental health campaigner, public speaker, documentary maker and vlogger. He was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2017 and has set up his own charity Beyond Shame, Beyond Stigma. He is also an author and his incredible first book The Stranger on the Bridge was released last year and included a foreword from none other than the Duke of Cambridge himself Prince William (link below).
When I met up with Jonny we chatted about;
- what it felt like growing up gay and Jewish,
- how he feels about the on-going opposition to LGBTQ education in primary schools
- the shame he felt over his sexuality and how this struggle really impacted on his mental health
- how he came out to his parents and family
- the worrying mental health statistics for the community
- why we need more LGBTQ+ allies
- and our shared admiration for the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna.
**some audio glitches with me on this interview because we only had one microphone. Will have second mic for season 2-apologies **
Links
To buy Jonny’s book ‘Stranger on the Bridge’- https://amzn.to/3336rrK
Twitter & Facebook @mrjonnybenjamin
Jonny’s charity
https://beyondshamebeyondstigma.co.uk
43 min - #5 Eilish O' Carroll on falling for a woman in her forties and her ten year struggle to accept her sexuality
Eilish O’ Carroll plays Winne McGoogan on the hugely successful sitcom ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, which has not only been a big hit in the UK and Ireland but also in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. As part of Mrs Brown’s Boys, she has appeared on a spin-off TV chat show (All around to Mrs Brown’s) and a box-office hit movie (Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie). The show has also won a whole raft of awards including National Television Awards and a Bafta. She is currently in the middle of a UK and Ireland arena tour for a musical version of the show. Eilish herself has toured with her own one woman show entitled ‘Live. Laugh. Love’, which received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival in 2016.
Eilish is an incredible woman and she gave a really candid interview. I met up with her in Dublin and we chatted about;
- her lack of awareness of homosexuality growing up in holy Catholic Ireland of the 50s and 60s,
- how turning 40 and falling for a woman was the catalyst for her coming out process,
- how she struggled with her sexuality throughout her 40s,
- telling her husband she was in love with a woman,
- the misconceptions she held herself about the lesbian lifestyle
- coming out to her friends and neighbours
- and the bigotry she encountered whilst campaigning for marriage equality in 2015.
Don’t forget to leave a rating, a review and to subscribe on I-tunes; thanks!
Links
Eilish’s website http://eilishocarroll.com
Eilish on twitter @eilishocarroll
41 min - #5 Eilish O' Carroll on falling for a woman in her forties & her ten year struggle to accept her sexuality
Eilish O’ Carroll plays Winne McGoogan on the hugely successful sitcom ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, which has not only been a big hit in the UK and Ireland but also in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. As part of Mrs Brown’s Boys, she has appeared on a spin-off TV chat show (All around to Mrs Brown’s) and a box-office hit movie (Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie). The show has also won a whole raft of awards including National Television Awards and a Bafta. She is currently in the middle of a UK and Ireland arena tour for a musical version of the show. Eilish herself has toured with her own one woman show entitled ‘Live. Laugh. Love’, which received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival in 2016.
Eilish is an incredible woman and she gave a really candid interview. I met up with her in Dublin and we chatted about;
- her lack of awareness of homosexuality growing up in holy Catholic Ireland of the 50s and 60s,
- how turning 40 and falling for a woman was the catalyst for her coming out process,
- how she struggled with her sexuality throughout her 40s,
- telling her husband she was in love with a woman,
- the misconceptions she held herself about the lesbian lifestyle
- coming out to her friends and neighbours
- and the bigotry she encountered whilst campaigning for marriage equality in 2015.
Links
Eilish’s website http://eilishocarroll.com
Eilish on twitter @eilishocarroll
41 min - #3 Steven Carter Bailey on growing up gay & Mormon and his struggle with food addiction
Steven Carter-Bailey was a finalist on GBBO in 2017 (his series is still on All4, if you haven’t seen it). He won three star bakers and several of those ever-elusive Hollywood Handshakes during his time on the show. He also won the New Year’s Day Bake Off this year and even got a Hollywood hug!!!
Steven has worked as a special reporter for ITV news, appeared on the Last Leg on Channel 4 and is currently very busy appearing at food festivals all around Britain.
I am a huge Great British Bake Off fan and I’m obsessed with his Instagram (photos of incredible cake and a cute British bulldog is= Instagram gold) so it was great to be able to meet and chat with him.
Steven was incredibly open and honest and this was at times a very emotional interview. We chatted about;
- the elaborate lies he had to tell to keep his participation on GBBO a secret.
- feeling different to his peers whilst growing up.
- what it was like growing up gay and Mormon.
- experiencing homophobia from teachers.
- coming out to his sister and friends.
- why his grandmother was the first person he told.
- how his mother reacted when he came out to her.
- how he has struggled with his weight over the years.
- experiencing homophobia as an adult.
- and his enduring crush on a certain Mr William Young.
Links
stevencarterbailey.co.uk
Steven on Instagram - spongecakesquaretin
Steven on twitter - spongecakesqtin
To watch Steven on the Great British Bake Off- channel4.com
Follow I’m Coming Out The Podcast on Twitter and Instagram - @imcomingoutpod
43 min - #4 Steven Carter Bailey on growing up gay and Mormon and his struggle with food addiction
Steven Carter-Bailey was a finalist on GBBO in 2017 (his series is still on All4, if you haven’t seen it). He won three star bakers and several of those ever-elusive Hollywood handshakes during his time on the show. He also won the New Year’s Day Bake Off this year and even got a Hollywood hug!!!
Steven has worked as a special reporter for ITV news, appeared on the Last Leg on Channel 4 and is currently very busy appearing at food festivals all around Britain.
I am a huge Great British Bake Off fan and I’m obsessed with his Instagram (photos of incredible cake + a cute British bulldog = Instagram gold) so it was great to be able to meet and chat with him.
Steven was incredibly open and honest and this was at times a very emotional interview. We talked about;
- the elaborate lies he had to tell to keep his participation on GBBO a secret.
- feeling different to his peers growing up.
- what it was like growing up gay and Mormon.
- experiencing homophobia from teachers.
- coming out to his sister and friends.
- why his grandmother was the first person he told.
- how his mother reacted when he came out to her.
- how he has struggled with his weight over the years.
- experiencing homophobia as an adult.
- and his enduring crush on a certain Mr William Young.
Links
stevencarterbailey.co.uk
Steven on Instagram - spongecakesquaretin
Steven on twitter - spongecakesqtin
To watch Steven on the Great British Bake Off- channel4.com
Follow I’m Coming Out The Podcast on Twitter and Instagram - @imcomingoutpod
44 min - #2 Jen Brister on how she struggled to come out in the nineties and why LGBTQ+ rights should never be up for debate
Jen is a stand-up comic and writer from London. She has written and performed five solo shows around the world including at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and of course the Edinburgh Festival. She will be there again in August with her latest show ‘Underprivileged’.
Jen has been a guest on Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and regularly supports him on tour. She has presented on BBC6 radio and appeared on the Guilty Feminist Podcast. Her book The Other Mother, a Wickedly Honest Parenting Tale for Every Kind of Family is set to be released by Penguin in September. She also did an incredible TedX talk last year entitled ‘changing the way we bring up our boys’.
I met up with Jen really early on a Saturday morning and we talked about;
- why there are so few lesbian dedicated spaces, why she came out as bisexual first,
- how she reacted when a girl in her class wrote her a love letter,
- how it took her some time to accept her sexuality
- first ever lesbian kiss on British TV (on Brookside of course!!!).
- we also talked about why referendums and debates on equal rights anger her
- and her experiences of being part of a gay couple with children.
** Apologies I veered away from the mic on this one and we recorded in a room with really high ceilings- sound quality will be much improved for season 2**
To pre-order a copy of Jen’s book ‘The Other Mother’ - https://amzn.to/328HtXA
For touring schedule - http://www.jenbrister.co.uk
twitter @jenbrister
instagram @jenbristercomedy
Follow I’m Coming Out The Podcast on Twitter and Instagram - @imcomingoutpod
38 min - #2 Justin Myers on how he had to walk home from school to avoid homophobic beatings on the bus
Justin first became known as a blogger using the pseudonym the Guyliner. He is a columnist for British GQ and he also writes for the Huffington Post, the Gay Times, the Guardian and the Sunday Times. On his blog he also reviews the weekly Guardian blind dates. His first novel The Last Romeo was published last year and tells the story of one man’s quest to find his one true love. His second novel is set for release next year.
I really wanted to chat to Justin because I’ve followed his career for years now & I’m a huge fan of his writing. I met with Justin at his publisher’s offices in London and we chatted about
- how it felt to be the victim of homophobic bullying from teachers, and the mental and physical abuse he endured throughout secondary school,
- his attempts to repress his sexuality and what it felt like when he finally did come out,
- how he still feels self-conscious wearing certain items of clothing in London and his best advice on how to react when someone comes out to you.
- We also talked about other LGBTQ issues such as internalised homophobia and the rise of homophobic hate crimes since Brexit.
** There is some crackling sound on this one-apologies **
https://theguyliner.com
Twitter & instagram - @theguyliner
To buy Justin’s book - https://amzn.to/2XvrzYu
Follow I’m Coming Out The Podcast on Twitter and Instagram - @imcomingoutpod
42 min - #2 Justin Myers on how he had to walk home from school to avoid homophobic beatings on the bus
Justin first became known as a blogger using the pseudonym the Guyliner. He is a columnist for British GQ and he also writes for the Huffington Post, the Gay Times, the Guardian and the Sunday Times. On his blog he also reviews the weekly Guardian blind dates. His first novel The Last Romeo was published last year and tells the story of one man’s quest to find his one true love. His second novel is set for release next year.
I really wanted to chat to Justin because I’ve followed his career for years now & I’m a huge fan of his writing. I met with Justin at his publisher’s offices in London and we chatted about;
- how it felt to be the victim of homophobic bullying from teachers, and the mental and physical abuse he endured throughout secondary school,
- his attempts to repress his sexuality and what it felt like when he finally did come out,
- how he still feels self-conscious wearing certain items of clothing in London and his best advice on how to react when someone comes out to you.
- We also talked about other LGBTQ issues such as internalised homophobia and the rise of homophobic hate crimes since Brexit.
** There was bad clipping on this recording- apologies. **
https://theguyliner.com
Twitter & instagram - @theguyliner
To buy Justin’s book - https://amzn.to/2XvrzYu
Follow I’m Coming Out The Podcast on Twitter and Instagram - @imcomingoutpod
42 min
About I'm Coming Out
From the publisher's feed
I'm Coming Out explores what it's like to grow up gay in a straight world. Every week a member of the LGBTQI+ community chats with Jonny Harvey about discovering and coming to terms with their…
sexuality, and the steps they took to move out of the shadows and lead a more authentic life.