Chris Martin admitted that he doubted his sexuality as a young teen at boarding school (Rolling Stone)
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has admitted that he was “very homophobic” when questioning his sexuality as a young teen at an all-boys’ boarding school.
Martin, who is straight, told Rolling Stone that he had “a rough time” fitting in at school and faced a “terrible turmoil” as he considered whether he might be gay.
“When I went to boarding school I walked a bit funny and I bounced a bit, and I was also very homophobic because I was like, ‘If I’m gay, I’m completely fucked for eternity’ and I was a kid discovering sexuality,” he said.
“‘Maybe I’m gay, maybe I’m this, maybe I’m that, I can’t be this’ so I was terrified and then I walked a bit funny and I was in a boarding school with a bunch of quite hardcore kids who were also gone for their thing and, for a few years, they would very much say, ‘You’re definitely gay,’ in quite a full-on manner, quite aggressively telling me that and it was weird for me for a few years.”
He recalled thinking at the time: “I don’t know [if I’m gay] and even if I am, I can’t be because it’s wrong… If I am, I can’t be.’”
Martin retreated into music, especially classic soul, British shoegaze rock and cathedral music, all of which would inspire Coldplay’s unique sound in later days. As he grew older, his insecurities about his sexuality began to fade.
“About 15 and a half, I don’t know what happened, I was like, ‘Yeah, so what?’ and then it all just stopped overnight. It was very interesting,” he said.
“[I had] a bit more exposure to the world, thinking, ‘A lot of my heroes are gay,’ or whatever. Whatever they are, it doesn’t really matter.
“So what that did was ease a big pressure and then made me question, ‘Hey maybe some of this stuff that I’m learning about God and everything – I’m not sure if I subscribe to all of this particular religion.’”
Chris Martin was married to Gwyneth Paltrow from 2003 to 2016, with whom he had two children, Apple, 15, and Moses, 13.