Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos comes out as gay, talks struggle with sexuality
“I just wanted so badly to be straight,’’ he said.
Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos appeared on Bret Easton Ellis’s (author of American Psycho) podcast Monday to discuss an array of difficult topics, such as taking a break from Emerson College, mental illness, and his struggles with realizing his sexuality.
As Spin reports, Angelakos spoke about his marriage to and subsequent divorce from stylist Kristy Mucci, telling Ellis that he’s actually gay.
“It’s always been about putting it off in my head — not consciously,’’ Angelakos said. “When you are teetering on the edge of heterosexuality or homosexuality or whatever, and you don’t know what’s going on, it’s so much more comfortable to just go back to what you know. … I didn’t want to deal with other people.’’
He continued: “I just wanted so badly to be straight, because I love her so much. I think that was one of the most painful things when we decided to separate.’’
Angelakos said that Mucci was very encouraging, pushing him to grapple with his identity. He said she told him, “You can’t hate yourself anymore, you can’t be buying all these things people are saying about you.’’
Angelakos said that he decided to come out on Ellis’s podcast because he felt “disarmed’’ talking to Ellis, another artist he admires who is also gay. During the conversation, Ellis shared his own experience balancing his sexuality with his public persona, saying he was worried he would be defined by it.
“Basically with you, right now, I am saying something that I’ve never said before, publicly,’’ Angelakos said to Ellis. “I’ve actually even told very few people in my small circles because I don’t know how to talk about it.’’
After the interview, Angelakos tweeted:
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Listen to the entire episode below. (Angelakos starts discussing his sexuality around the 49-minute mark.)
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