YEARS AND YEARS GAY SEX SCENE FULL
The speech caught the interest of TV producers, and, in 2017, he fronted a BBC documentary called “ Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay.” In it, he returns to his family home and leafs through teenage diaries full of references to bulimia and self-harm. When the band performed the song at the Glastonbury Festival in 2016, soon after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., a rainbow-clad Alexander told the crowd, “I’m here, I’m queer, and, yes, sometimes I’m afraid.” But, he added, “I am never ashamed, because I am proud of who I am.” The impact of his childhood is something he’s still processing in weekly therapy, he said. “But that’s the biggest thing I’ve tried to do,” he added. It took many years until he could look back at the child he was with compassion, he said. And kids can be so cruel.”Īs Alexander recalled his younger self, he started to cry. “I had long blond hair, and I acted quite feminine,” he said. School was an even more fraught environment, and Alexander experienced homophobic bullying from age 9. When he was 14, his parents separated he’d only seen his father a handful of times since, he said. It was a creative household, Alexander said, but his father had mental health problems and substance abuse issues that led to a difficult atmosphere at home. His father, an aspiring musician, worked in amusement parks. “My life is kind of out there now.”Īlexander grew up in Gloucestershire, in western England, where his mother founded a local music festival. “I’ve said just everything about myself,” he said. But whereas Ritchie masks his vulnerabilities, Alexander has spoken frankly in interviews and onstage with the band about his experiences of bulimia, anxiety, self-harm and depression.