Derek Chadwick (Photo by Ryan Pfluger. Courtesy of Gay Times)
Derek Chadwick, an Instagram star, model and actor, has come out as gay.
The 23-year-old made the public announcement in the latest issue of the Gay Times, where he is the cover star.
“I would identify now as gay…I’ve been nervous about people seeing my personality because I didn’t want them to jump to conclusions about me without knowing my whole story,” he says.
“It’ll allow me to be more personable on social media,” Chadwick, who has 275,000 Instagram followers, continued.” I’ll be able to post more on my stories and videos on Twitter… it’ll allow me to stand up on the stage in front of the LGBTQ community and not feel so pressured about, ‘Oh my God, I wonder they think of me’, or, ‘I wonder what they’ll think of me’. If I can just inspire one person, whoever that is, to be their true self or do something they were scared to do or didn’t feel 100% confident in, that would be the most rewarding part of all this…Being honest and being who you are is always the best way to live.”
He also says he hopes his coming out can eventually be inspiring for other people.
“Coming out in this way allows me to use the privilege that I have to help other people who don’t have that. The opportunities that I’ve been given to have a voice,” Chadwick says. “I want to be the person that’s at those rallies and events advocating for people and anybody. I never felt that I could do that unless I did this, and I think this is a major way for people to see visible queer people.”
