Entertainment
I’m A Celebrity 2021: Matty Lee ‘got punched’ and was bullied just for being a diver at school
The Olympian opened up about his experiences growing up (Picture: PA)
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! star Matty Lee has revealed that he ‘got punched’ and was bullied at school just for being a diver.
The Olympic athlete will be familiar to fans who tuned into the Tokyo games this summer, after bursting onto the scene with a gold medal.
However, things weren’t always easy for him after he opened up about his experiences growing up on Thursday’s show.
The revelation came during a conversation in camp about Danny Miller, who plays gay character Aaron Dingle in Emmerdale.
‘Sadly, there’s still a lot of homophobia out there,’ he said, before talk turned to how attitudes in schools have changed – or not changed – over the different generations.
Matty said to his campmates: ‘When I was in high school, that was a horrible environment for anyone to come out. Not a single – not to my knowing – not a single gay person there, or who was out anyway.’
Matty and Tom Daley won gold at the Tokyo olympics (Picture: PA)
He added: ‘If I’d never moved to London I wouldn’t have had any gay mates. A lot of my mates in London are gay and I love them. But without that I wouldn’t have known any.’
Adam Woodyatt said: ‘The younger generation now are so much more accepting.’
Matt said he was ‘punched’ as a child (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Matty added: ‘My generation wasn’t nice still in high school. I couldn’t even be a diver without being punched.’
He later spoke in the Bush Telegraph, saying: ‘I would get that sort of bullying from just being a diver. Just because I wear little trunks.
More: I’m A Celebrity
‘And it’s a shame because people should be who they want to be, whether it’s their profession, whether it’s their sexuality, their gender, their race… people should be able to do what they want to do.’
Matty is best known as Tom Daley’s diving partner. The pair trained together for months and took gold at the Men’s synchronised 10m platform event.
I’m A Celebrity airs daily at 9pm on ITV.
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