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Outlook: Hiding the truth behind my NFL stardom

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RyanOCallaghan_courtesy of the New England Patriots_Credit Keith Nordstrom- Katie Luther photography CROP.jpg

20/08/2022 GMT

Hiding the truth behind my NFL stardom

BBC World Service - Outlook, Hiding the truth behind my NFL stardom

New England Patriots star Ryan O'Callaghan used football as a cover for his sexuality.

New England Patriots star Ryan O'Callaghan used football as a cover for his sexuality and was ready to go to extreme lengths to keep his secret hidden.

For most teenage boys who play American football in high school, the National Football League is the dream goal. They will practice for hours every day to get that one chance to make it to the big time. But for Ryan O'Callaghan, he was training for a different reason. Ryan was gay and desperate to hide his sexuality from everybody. He knew the masculine world of football was the perfect place to hide. His career inadvertently took off and he was catapulted into stardom playing for the New England Patriots. But his secret was becoming unbearable, until an unlikely intervention from a kind stranger. Ryan's book is called 'My Life on the Line.' (This episode was first broadcast in April 2020)

If you are looking for support for any of the issues discussed in this programme, you can find links to useful organisations here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline

Presenter: Katy Davis
Producer: Mariana Des Forges

(Photo: Ryan O'Callaghan in his New England Patriots kit. Credit: Courtesy of the New England Patriots, Keith Nordstrom-Katie Luther Photography)

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