On Tuesday, Ryan O’Callaghan, the 33-year-old former New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle, came out as gay. After a battle spanning more than a decade of coming to terms with his sexuality and even contemplating suicide, the former football player was candid about the war that was raging within him.
In an interview with Outsports.com, Mr. O’Callaghan, who hails from a small conservative community in California, talked about realizing he was gay when he was a junior in high school but deciding at a young age he would never be able to “live as a gay man.