Kelly came out as gay back in 2022

Dame Kelly Holmes previously revealed that her mum’s death prompted her to “change” the way she dealt with her sexuality.

The former Olympian’s confession came during an appearance on Loose Women back in 2022.

Kelly is now a Loose Women panelist (Credit: ITV)

Kelly Holmes on Loose Women

Back in June 2022, the Loose Women welcomed Dame Kelly Holmes – now a regular panelist – on to the show. Kelly – on Blankety Blank this weekend – came out as gay a few days before her appearance, after hiding her sexuality for 34 years.

On the ITV panel show, Kelly spoke about why she decided it was the right time to reveal to the world that she was gay. Kelly revealed that her decision to “change” came after her mum died four and a half years previously.

“I knew I had to change,” she said. “I knew I needed to be me, but I just didn’t know how to. So it’s taken four years to kind of get to the point of knowing it was right, and then I had a really bad breakdown in 2020,” she said.

Kelly bravely opened up on the show (Credit: ITV)

Kelly Holmes on coming out as gay

The athlete then continued, explaining another reason as to why she wanted to come out now.

“I just thought, one day, as we all are in society, I’m going to die. And I don’t want my friends and family being the ones at my funeral saying: ‘It’s a shame she couldn’t live her life,’” she continued.

Kelly then went on to say that her mum would be “so proud” of her for coming out. “She always said to me: ‘You’ve got to live your life,’” she said.

Kelly believes her mum would be ‘so proud’ of her (Credit: ITV)

Kelly opens up

The former Olympian then spoke about how the younger generation is able to live “freely” because generations before them have “fought” for them. “You’re living your life freely because people before you have fought for you and fought for this moment,” she said.

She then went on to discuss how she met someone in the army who made her realise she was gay. “She just kissed me and it felt right,” she said. She added: “I didn’t think I’d ever talk about being a gay woman. Period.”