Joe McElderry On Coming Out: “I’m Glad I’ve Done It”

The very cute and courageous Joe McElderry, the 19 year old who was crowned X Factor champion 2009, and who is seen below leaving the X Factor studio Sunday, is interviewed by London-based daily Metro magazine, and in addition to admitting the first record he bought was the Spice Girls Wannabe when he was 7 years old, is asked whether his recent coming out was a traumatic experience, Joe answering “Not really. I was nervous about it but I’m glad I’ve done it and I can now move forward and get on with the rest of my life. I wasn’t pressured into doing it. It was all my own decision.” For any current X Factor contestants who may be gay, Joe offers this advice: “Just talk about it when you feel ready. When you make that decision, just go for it.” The remarkably poised and unaffected young man also says that if he could come back reincarnated as one animal it would be a dolphin, “I’d like to swim all day.”