Just a few months after his divorce, Passion Pit's energetic frontman Michael Angelakos revealed that he is gay, and has thanked fans for their support. The "Lifted Up (1985)" singer made the big revelation during an interview on author Bret Easton Ellis' podcast.
The singer had finalized his divorce in August from his stylist wife Kirsty Mucci, a relationship that seemingly prevented him from coming out sooner. "I just wanted so badly to be straight, because I love her so much," he said. "I think that was one of the most painful things when we decided to separate."
According to Consequence of Sound, the singer has also been battling with bipolar disorder and depression, openly talking about the afflictions for years.
He then, however, went on to explain how Mucci has been nothing but supportive of his coming out, even encouraging it. "When I decided to really deal with it head on -- which was, I don't know, in June -- she was the one who spearheaded it in a way. She said, 'You need to figure out what's going on with your sexuality because you can't hate yourself anymore,'" he said.
Angelakos then elaborated on the other reasons why he didn't come out sooner, including not having any gay role models. He then told Ellis why he chose to come out on his podcast rather than another major publication, stating that he's so far only discussed his sexuality with "small circles."
"I don't know how to talk about it, you know?," he explained. "Talking with you -- we've talked before -- when someone understands what you do and what you make, it disarms you a little bit and you can just be yourself because you don't have to defend your work... This is the kind of situation every artist wants to be in-to talk to artists they really admire. When this was all happening recently, finally, I just decided it might be best to talk about it here. I don't really know what happened, but it's just one of those gut feelings. It's the same gut feeling I had when I said, OK, I kind of just need to talk to people about the fact that I am. I'm gay. And that's it. It just has to happen. This was exactly the type of situation where I don't feel like I'm being threatened."
Passion Pit's latest album Kindred was released in April of this year and included lead single "Lifted Up (1985)." The band has yet to dicuss plans for a follow-up album and has no tour dates scheduled for the forseeable future.
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