The Hollyoaks actor Kieron Richardson today revealed he was gay.
Richardson, who came third in this year's Dancing On Ice, made the disclosure on This Morning as he announced that his character in the soap, Ste Hay, will start a homosexual relationship.
Richardson said most of his family and friends already knew he was gay.
"When I was on Dancing on Ice, newspapers speculated and tried to say we kind of know and if you want to say you can do your story with us and get it out there," he said. "At that point, my personal life took a back step and it was more about the competition and trying to get through the next week rather than get a few column inches in the newspaper and maybe raise my profile at the time.
"But now I feel that it's relevant and the storyline's relevant to some situations in my life then if maybe I can help people that are going through the same thing then it's a bonus."
Richardson, 20, said he was teased about his sexuality at school but not bullied, and he was speaking out publicly to help other young people.
"There were one or two people, if somebody is gay they can maybe sense it and they might have said one or two comments. That can hurt if you're like 14 or 15 in school. Now I feel I'm a lot stronger, I'm older and nothing can hurt me any more.
"People who are going through this can see I am a young lad and I can say it. It's not wrong. You shouldn't be ashamed of it. We don't live in the dark ages any more, we live in the 21st century and everyone should be happy and love themselves."