Will Young has said writing his forthcoming book brought back painful memories of the homophobia he faced before deciding to come out.
The award-winning singer and actor is penning How To Be A Gay Man, part memoir and part self-help book based on his life, due out next year.
He told Insider he had revisited several traumatic incidents for the book, including the moment he was told that victims of the 1999 nail bomb attack on a Soho gay pub “deserved it.”
Young said the book contains “stuff I had tried to forget or never told anyone about — events like me walking past the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street after the nail bomb went off, and someone I was with saying, ‘Well they deserved it.’ Who can say such a thing?”
He added: “I wasn’t out then. But imagine trying to come out having been told that — that you’re wrong, everything you feel is wrong and you deserve to die. I mean, it is impossible.”
The nail bomb was one of three devices that exploded in London over two weeks in April 1999, planted by self-confessed racist and homophobe David Copeland.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 50 years in jail. Three people died and 70 more were injured.
Young, who came out in 2002 after winning Pop Idol, said the purpose of the book was to “help people, young gay men with my experiences and what I have learned.”
Earlier this year, the singer, who is touring his latest album Lexicon, had revealed he wanted to retrain as a therapist, but he said the plan was now on hold.
“It is still something I want to do,” he said. “It’s just in my job, and this is a great problem to have, you never know when an amazing project is going to come up.”
