Sam Smith sought out therapy after a number of "traumatic" sexual experiences, which took place when he first ventured into London's gay scene.
The Stay With Me hitmaker, who identifies as non-binary, opened up about the difficulties he faced coming to terms with his sexuality during a cover interview for the June (19) issue of Britain's GQ magazine, which celebrates GQ Heroes.
Reflecting on his formative years, the star recalled feeling "unwelcome" in the LGBT+ community, which he claims has tarnished his views on love and relationships.
"Those first experiences, they weren’t very kind. I wasn’t hurt, it wasn’t anything absolutely awful, but it was traumatic," Sam sighed. "It wasn’t a good welcoming into my sexual life and my life as a young man. I think it definitely stunted my belief in love at times."
Probed further about his experiences, the 26-year-old suggested the string of sexual misfortunes resulted in his ongoing battles with mental health and body confidence issues, and confided that he only realised he had a problem when he started talking to a therapist.
"That’s probably the first time I started to feel sadness. It wasn’t orgies, it was just a very different life to the one I knew in the countryside," he considered. "It was mainly sexual. I didn’t really realise how awful they were until I started therapy and started to uproot some of that stuff."
The star insisted that counselling has helped with his struggles, and last month he took to his Instagram Stories to share a string of body positive messages as he celebrated an "empowering" naked day.
"For my entire life I have always hated being naked," the Dancing with a Stranger singer confessed. “Today I decided to have a naked day and spend the day in my room and watch TV and read and eat what I want and just celebrate this bod."
