“I am not male or female,” revealed Sam Smith in an interview discussing fame and body image.
The British singer-songwriter sat down with actress and activist Jameela Jamil in a candid interview posted to Instagram where he spoke about being plagued by body shaming issues his entire life.
The 26-year-old Grammy Award winner came out as gay at the age of 10, and at 16, he stopped wearing male clothes and instead opted to wearing leggings and makeup. He said that after his life was thrown into the spotlight he began wearing suits to hide his weight.
He also spoke about having liposuction treatment at the age of 12 because he started developing breasts.
Today, Smith identifies as “non-binary genderqueer”.
“I’ve always been very free in terms of thinking about sexuality, so I’ve just tried to change that into my thoughts on gender as well.”
He further clarified identifying as genderqueer, stating “Non-binary/genderqueer is that you do not identify in a gender. You are a mixture of all different things. You are your own special creation.”
Adding, “That’s how I take it. I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between – somewhat on the spectrum”.
Sam Smith’s revelation about himself apparently did not sit well with British personality, Piers Morgan.
Morgan poked fun at the singer, saying that Smith is another celebrity looking for more attention.
Speaking on a live broadcast of Good Morning Britain on Tuesday March 19, Morgan said: “Sam Smith has announced he’s gender-fluid… he can’t work out if he’s male or female, whatever. He’s now identifying as [non-binary]”.
“I’m now identifying as Sam Smith, so I can get his royalties. This works both ways,” said Morgan.
He added: “I just don’t get this… Sam Smith has millions of fans, what are they supposed to think? I can’t work out what I am?”
Morgan has been very critical of the term ‘gender fluidity’, often voicing objection to gender-neutral changing rooms, children’s cartoons and other gender related issues. He believes that revealing this information may have larger ramifications for those struggling with their own identity.
“Is it a generational thing? My young sons don’t care about this whole gender thing, they think I’m just an old fuddy-duddy, it doesn’t matter. ‘Why do you care, dad, what people identify as?’
“But I think there are so many ramifications around self-identify that are a real concern, and they haven’t thought it through”.
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