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Craig Revel Horwood has admitted abuse he suffered in his teenage years left him ‘completely homophobic’ and quashing his sexuality. 

The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 58, spoke about the pain he suffered as a teen while also reflecting on the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the Eighties. 

Revealing his plight in an interview with The Guardian’s G2, Craig, who came from an abusive home at the hands of his alcoholic father, detailed the slurs he would face during his traumatic childhood in Australia. 

The star, who now lives in Northamptonshire with his a horticulturist and trainee paramedic fiancé Jonathan, who he met on Tinder in 2018, revealed he was called a ‘pansy’ and a ‘poofter’ by cruel classmates.

As well as his childhood, Craig reflected on the ill-informed attitudes in the Eighties and how he watched friends die, saying: ‘A lot of my friends died and I had to witness that… I sometimes wonder, how did I escape that?’

Way back when: Craig Revel Horwood has admitted abuse he suffered in his teenage years left him 'completely homophobic' and quashing his sexuality (pictured in a throwback from his teens in Australia)

Way back when: Craig Revel Horwood has admitted abuse he suffered in his teenage years left him ‘completely homophobic’ and quashing his sexuality (pictured in a throwback from his teens in Australia)

Speaking out: The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 58, spoke about the pain he suffered as a teen while also reflecting on the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the Eighties

Speaking out: The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 58, spoke about the pain he suffered as a teen while also reflecting on the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the Eighties

Shocking: Revealing his plight in an interview with The Guardian's G2 , Craig, who came from an abusive home at the hands of his alcoholic father, detailed the slurs he would face during his traumatic childhood in Australia

Shocking: Revealing his plight in an interview with The Guardian’s G2 , Craig, who came from an abusive home at the hands of his alcoholic father, detailed the slurs he would face during his traumatic childhood in Australia

Prior to discovering his passion for dance and theatre, Craig, who was married to Jane Horwood from 1990 to 1992 when he then identified as bisexual, admitted he struggled with sexuality which led to his homophobia. 

He explained: “I was completely homophobic… But when I went to the theatre, when I did my first dance class, the people there were lovely, and people started praising me. They were older and accepting, and I loved it…

‘I liked those people, and I knew I didn’t like people at school. I was traumatised at school, but dance released that.’

The HIV/AIDS epidemic began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization, as of 2021, HIV/AIDS has killed approximately 40.1 million people, and approximately 38.4m people are infected.

With little understanding of the disease when the epidemic began, homophobia was rife, with many branding HIV/AIDS ‘the gay plague’, with ill-informed beliefs about how the disease could spread – thus victimising sufferers. 

Speaking about the time, Craig said: ‘Everyone was ill-informed, they called it the gay plague. And, yes, a lot of my friends died and I had to witness that. They were 21-year-olds dying, 22-year-olds, people who hadn’t even lived their lives…

Star: Prior to discovering his passion for dance and theatre, Craig admitted he struggled with sexuality which led to his homophobia

Star: Prior to discovering his passion for dance and theatre, Craig admitted he struggled with sexuality which led to his homophobia

Back then: Craig was married to Jane Horwood (centre) from 1990 to 1992 when he then identified as bisexual (pictured in the 90s)

Back then: Craig was married to Jane Horwood (centre) from 1990 to 1992 when he then identified as bisexual (pictured in the 90s) 

Hard times: Last year, Craig once again spoke about his tough childhood growing up in Ballarat, Australia as he detailed feeling like a 'social misfit' and an 'outcast'

Hard times: Last year, Craig once again spoke about his tough childhood growing up in Ballarat, Australia as he detailed feeling like a ‘social misfit’ and an ‘outcast’

 I sometimes wonder, how did I escape that? I just thought what is the world turning into? We are human beings, and it’s a human disease, not just a gay one, but they wanted to brand it as something.’ 

Last year, Craig once again spoke about his tough childhood growing up in Ballarat, Australia as he detailed feeling like a ‘social misfit’ and an ‘outcast’.

In a look back at his life during a segment on It Takes Two in December, he told how he didn’t feel like he fit in and wasn’t into sports like his peers, adding that ‘it was not acceptable to be even slightly effeminate’.

Craig, who also looked unrecognisable in throwback snaps, shared that after discovering dance, he finally found people that ‘understood’ him, adding that he used dance as an ‘escape route’ from his hometown.

Recalling his younger years, he said: ‘When I was at school I had very limited friends, I just did not fit in at all. I didn’t like sport at school – in fact I hated it. Any kid in Australia that doesn’t like sport is a social misfit and outcast.

‘That’s why I went to the dance classes, people were telling me I was good at it and it was the first thing I’d ever been good at.’

On how he felt to discover a new part of his life, he went on: ‘I felt like I was part of a community that understood me and didn’t judge me.’

Craig also mused over his marriage in the past, even stating that he would still be married to a woman if his wife hadn’t cheated on him.

He confessed that he had imagined staying with his wife forever and having children before he was left heartbroken by Jane’s betrayal.

Speaking to Kaye Adams on her How to Be 60 podcast, he explained: ‘If that relationship had worked out, I could have seen a life where I would have been married to a woman and had kids, without a shadow of a doubt.

‘It’s who you meet along the way and what changes it, it’s quite extraordinary.’

Cute couple: Craig started dating Jonathan - who is 22 years his junior - in 2018, confirmed their engagement in April 2020 (pictured in 2019)

Cute couple: Craig started dating Jonathan – who is 22 years his junior – in 2018, confirmed their engagement in April 2020 (pictured in 2019) 

Understanding: On how he felt to discover a new part of his life, he went on: 'I felt like I was part of a community that understood me and didn’t judge me'

Understanding: On how he felt to discover a new part of his life, he went on: ‘I felt like I was part of a community that understood me and didn’t judge me’

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This article belongs to Daily mail

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