Former professional basketball star comes out as homosexual and divulges surprising lengths he went to to cover his actual identification whereas taking part in
Former professional basketball player Andrew ‘AJ’ Ogilvy has admitted that he has not lived his life authentically as he publicly came out as gay this week.
The 37-year-old, who played in Australia’s National Basketball League, made the announcement in a video shared to the league’s YouTube channel on Wednesday as part of its fourth annual pride round.
‘There’s now a place for us to have this conversation, to be able to talk as openly as this,’ Ogilvy said, when asked about his decision to come out.
‘If people want to talk to someone, people want to be able to ask opinions, ask questions, it gives them someone else to reach to.’
He revealed that he has been married to his husband for 18 months now after the couple met while he was playing in Sydney during the 2013-14 season
He admitted that while he wasn’t ‘super discreet’ about their relationship, he was also not explicitly open about it.
Former professional basketball player Andrew ‘AJ’ Ogilvy has come out as gay
‘Some of the guys probably knew. Nothing was, I guess, ever explicitly said, especially at your level of, you know, openness,’ he continued. ‘While I was in Wollongong, definitely more of the guys got to know him. A couple of the guys, my old teammates, were at the wedding. There was, I guess, a level of recognition and knowledge around it, but just not openness.’
The three-time All-NBL first team star, who played for the Illawarra Hawks and Sydney Kings, sat down with fellow Australian basketball star Isaac Humphries, who came out in 2022.
Ogilvy, who retired from basketball in August 2022, reflected on his career as he explained balancing it with his sexuality.
‘I was very lucky with my career. I got to travel the world and get paid to play basketball, which is, you know, such a privilege. [But] I probably didn’t live my life as authentically as I probably could have during my time, especially in the NBL,’ he explained.
He made 218 NBL appearances and also played professionally in Spain, Turkey and Germany, where he won a Basketball Bundesliga championship.
The center spent the majority of his NBL career with the Hawks, leading the side to a grand final appearance in 2017.
While playing for Melbourne United in 2022, Humphries became the second active men’s professional basketball player to come out after NBA centre Jason Collins in 2013.
Ogilvy said Humphries’ announcement had given him courage but when asked by the Adelaide 36ers star if he had considered coming out earlier, he admitted that he had initially intended to keep his sexuality private.
The three-time All-NBL first team star retired from professional basketball in 2022
His announcement came in an interview with fellow openly gay basketballer Isaac Humphries
‘I think part of it was I viewed it as just my business, but the world shifted probably in between our generations. Like when the marriage equality vote rolled around, I was very vocal about that while still not publicly saying, ‘I’m a gay man,’ Ogilvy explained.
Ogilvy admitted that he struggled with the challenge of balancing his personal and professional lives, saying that he felt that as a basketballer, he felt the pressure to present as straight.
‘I think for a long time it was, “I want to be a basketballer, [and] to be a basketballer I had to be this – I have to present as straight. I have to not show this side of my personality,”‘ he said.
He continued, ‘So I had two social media accounts. One that I’d use for basketball stuff, and one that I just had tight friends on where I could be more open, I guess. Growing up, it wasn’t just in basketball; it was like media as a whole – it just wasn’t positive portrayals of gay relationships growing up. It was more, ‘It’s going to be a sad life, a lonely life.’ [It] definitely weighed on me pretty heavily.’
Collins became the NBA’s first openly gay player when he came out in 2013 in an open letter published by Sports Illustrated.
Although he remained closeted for much of his career, Jason revealed he was gay to Sports Illustrated in May of 2013 as he languished on the free-agent market.
The following season, his former New Jersey Nets teammate Jason Kidd recruited him to Brooklyn, where Kidd was coaching the newly relocated team.
On February 23, 2014, Collins signed a 10-day contract with the team and in doing so, became the league’s first openly gay player. He’d go on to remain with the Nets for the rest of the season before retiring the following November.
Humphries became the second active men’s pro basketball player to come out in 2022
Meanwhile, the recent success of Canadian TV show Heated Rivalry has had an impact beyond entertainment.
The hit HBOshow follows the clandestine rivals-to-lovers arc between top tier hockey stars Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie).
Its heavy helping of salacious scenes and yearning has sparked a frenzy among fans who lap up every second of the book adaptation.
But it has also helped a number of athletes to quietly admit to their sexuality, according to one of the show’s stars.
Speaking to Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM radio show, Williams says multiple closeted professional athletes have reached out to him since the program’s premier.
‘It’s definitely the people who reach out, somewhat anonymously, who are like, “I’m a professional player, and I’m still in the closet,”‘ Williams said.
Williams said closeted hockey, basketball and football players have reached out to him through Reid.
‘They’re reaching out to Rachel, our author, who will then relay these lovely anonymous emails, and sometimes they’re just reaching out privately through Instagram, and those are the ones that hit you and go, “Oh, so this is a fun show and it’s celebratory, but also sometimes it’s just hitting people right in the nerves.”‘
