Nigel Owens: ‘I Didn’t Want To Be Gay’

Rugby World Cup final referee Nigel Owens has admitted he considered being chemically castrated when he struggled to accept his sexuality.

The Welshman officiated in New Zealand’s World Cup final win over Australia last month and is considered one of the top referee’s in the game. He has previously spoken of his struggles about being gay which led to one suicide attempt and now, Owens says he considered the most drastic of procedures when he could not accept his sexuality.

“I didn’t want to be gay,” Owens told CNN.

“I actually went to the doctor at one stage to see if I could be chemically castrated in any way, if it would get rid of me being gay.

“Looking back at that it was a horrific thing that one would have to do but that’s what I was going through at the time.

“It was only when my Mum came to see me in hospital when I tried to take my own life and she told me: ‘If you try to do anything like this again then you take me and Dad with you because we don’t want to live our lives without you’.

“I was an only child. I sat up in bed that night and I cried. I thought to myself that I need to grow up here. That’s when I accepted who I was and that was the biggest challenge of my life over with.”