Sam Smith on Thursday recalled the “sad” moment they were “spat at” after publicly coming out as non-binary in 2019.
The 30-year-old “Unholy” singer sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe ahead of their upcoming album, “Gloria,” which drops Friday.
Smith revealed that while friends and family have been accepting of them adopting they/them pronouns, the “only negatives and the struggle have been in my public life and my job.”
For example, the recent “Saturday Night Live” musical guest recounted being “spat at” while in their homeland of the UK.
“Someone spat at me in the street. It’s crazy,” Smith claimed.
Lowe asked the four-time Grammy winner, who he said gives “so much” of themselves to their fans, to describe how that moment felt.
Smith replied, “What I find hard about it is, it’s like, if that’s happening to me and I’m famous, I’m a pop star, can you imagine what other kids, like queer kids are feeling?”
“And it’s just so sad that we’re in 2023, and it’s still happening. It’s exhausting and especially in England,” Smith added.
The “Stay With Me” songster confessed they feel like they can “dress and be myself more” in US cities like New York and LA than they can across the pond.
“It’s a wild feeling,” Smith said, before referencing their trip last month to the White House, where they were “surrounded by the gays and the queers” at President Biden’s Marriage Act signing ceremony.
“Having Biden stand up and say all these things. Talking about trans people and how he sees them, he sees us … I haven’t heard that in my own country from politicians.”
To support their new album, Smith is preparing to embark on “Gloria The Tour,” which is due to reach the US in July.