Kelly Holmes previously revealed one of the main reasons she kept her sexuality secret was because of “army interrogations” – something she lifted the lid on in her Being Me documentary.
Speaking on This Morning in 2022, Kelly discussed how much of a relief it has been to tell the world that she’s gay.
The former Olympian’s documentary detailed her plight. In it, Kelly said she realised she was gay as a soldier in the Women’s Royal Army Corps aged 17 in 1988.
Kelly Holmes coming out
Dame Kelly, 54, said it felt “a bit scary” to be honest about her sexuality. Then host Phillip Schofield said that her announcement would help others.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I feel like that was one reason I wanted to do the documentary. If I was going to talk about… I needed to talk about this for myself and my own well-being, and my own mental health.”
I’ve never said that before – that I’m a gay woman – publicly on TV
Dame Kelly added: “The documentary was a way of me articulating the fear I’ve had for so many years and to allow me to have a platform to hopefully educate and inform people of the complexities of maybe being gay as well.
“I’ve never said that before – that I’m a gay woman – publicly on TV.”
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Kelly Holmes on army interrogations
Dame Kelly kept her sexuality a secret because, until 2000, it was illegal to be gay in the army.
She explained that on joining the Army, she was read the rules, meaning she grew up with the fear that being who she truly was would mean she couldn’t do the job she loved.
She was in the army for almost 10 years.
Read more: Kelly Holmes makes huge next step with her partner
She said: “It was really difficult because there was interrogation that happened.
“In the documentary, I explain it a lot and I speak to people that dealt with some shocking things, but for me personally, having raids, it was scary, humiliating, embarrassing.
“People were tipped off, the Royal Military Police would come into your barracks and literally turn everything upside down, take everything out, you’d be left with your belongings laying around. They were trying to find any evidence you might be.
“If you got tipped off… you’d put everything into a box that wasn’t anything to do with your sexuality, into a box and hide it in the boot of a car because you don’t want to risk being court marshalled.”
It was only in December 2020, when she suffered a breakdown – after years of mental health troubles – that she realised she needed to “do something about it”.
But despite her bad experiences, Kelly is still supportive of the army.
Kelly is a panelist on Loose Women, ITV1, weekdays at 12.30pm.
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