BBC weatherman Owain Wyn Evans says he felt like he ‘had to go back into the closet’ and keep his sexuality a ‘big secret’ for his first TV job as a children’s presenter
- Owain Wyn Evans said that he had to ‘go back into the closet’ for his first TV job
- He was employed as a children’s TV presenter for BBC Wales at the age of 18
- Owain, 36, said he didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ being himself in the ‘high profile job’
- The presenter also spoke about coming out as gay in Ammanford, South Wales
BBC weatherman Owain Wyn Evans has revealed that he felt like he ‘had to go back into the closet’ after securing his first TV presenting job at the age of 18 for BBC Wales.
The presenter, 36, from Ammanford, South Wales, said he didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ being himself when getting a job as a children’s host for the broadcaster after leaving school.
Owain admitted that he had already come out as gay to his parents and friends, but felt he had to ‘go back into the closet’ after securing such a ‘high profile job’ on Welsh language children’s news show Ffeil.
Speaking to the BBC to mark LGBTQ+ history month, he explained: ‘I then got a job with BBC Wales as a children’s presenter and I was only 18, literally just finished school.
Weather presenter Owain Wyn Evans, 36, (pictured) said he felt like he ‘had to go back into the closet’ after securing his first TV job as a children’s presenter for BBC Wales at age 18
‘I had come out at this stage but I felt like I had to go back into the closet in many ways, because this was when there were four channels really on the TV and it was quite a high profile job, and I didn’t feel comfortable being myself.’
The Welsh journalist revealed that he stopped talking about his sexuality and it was a ‘big secret’ again, until he felt comfortable to come out for a second time.
He continued: ‘So I wouldn’t talk about my sexuality and I wouldn’t tell people basically, and it was all a big secret again.
‘But I was lucky to have some great people who I worked with who made me feel comfortable with being me, so I was then able to come out again, the second time.’
Owain also spoke about the challenges of being born in 1984, during the AIDS crisis, and there being ‘no positive role models’ for LGBTQ+ individuals at the time.
He admitted that he also felt like ‘the only gay in the village’ while growing up in Ammanford, a former coal mining town in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Owain admitted that he had already come out as gay to his parents and friends, but felt he had to ‘go back into the closet’ after securing such a ‘high profile job’ on Ffeil (above)
The journalist (pictured), from Ammanford, South Wales, said he stopped talking about his sexuality and it was a ‘big secret’ until he felt comfortable to come out for a second time
Owain said: ‘I knew from a young age that I was gay and one of the problems was, in my mind anyway, that didn’t fit in with all of these things that I had been brought up around.
‘So it was a bit of an internal struggle thinking “what is gay? Am I gay?”, because there were no positive role models around at the time. In Ammanford, I was quite literally “the only gay in the village”, or so I felt.’
Speaking about his experience of coming out, Owain said his three best friends ‘didn’t care’, while his parents, who he has a ‘great’ relationship with, found it ‘difficult’ but were ‘willing to learn’.
He said although things are ‘easier’ and ‘better’ now for LGBTQ+ people, he added that we are still not ‘there yet’, admitting that he still receives homophobic messages online.
He continued: ‘I still get homophobic messages sent on Twitter or whatever, because of the way I present the weather, I’m uber flamboyant or whatever. It’s all about visibility and I think that’s really important.’