Top 50 Gareth Thomas Quotes

Toulouse opened my eyes as a player and as a person. I returned to Wales 10 times better for the experience. I admit that when I went there I was not life-savvy: I was a wild child who lived life instinctively. I would walk past a building and not even notice it.

I’m not a stereotypical gay man but I am a gay man as much as anyone else.

If you add children to a marriage, they bring a different dimension to the relationship. If I’d had a child and I believed it would have made my child’s life better by not coming out, the chances are I wouldn’t have done it. Because I think you do whatever it takes to make your child happy.

When I came out I hoped it would empower others – and it has.

I don’t take any day for granted, I work hard, I’m motivated.

There are excuses for dropping the ball or missing a tackle. But there are no excuses for not playing with a passion for your team-mates and as long as I get that response and they play well, I’ll be happy.

I don’t try and coax people to come out because it needs to be right for them as an individual but when I speak to some people I realise that the power and influence that famous sportspeople have is amazing and to show such a positive message can change the world.

I had a stroke in 2006. I thought: ‘This is it.’

I had a lot of anger because I didn’t like who I was when I was off the field. I used to relish the chance to try and hurt somebody in a legal way, and in the game of rugby you were able to do that.

Everything I do, I do it being myself.

I feel I am as fit as anybody.

Part of a sportsman’s job is taking banter from the crowd.

Gay men are accepted in films, music and politics because people came out and broke the mould and stereotype in those industries. What I am trying to do is break the trend in rugby and sport in general and show any aspiring sportsman, regardless of his age, that the mould has been broken.

I’m not going on a crusade but I’m proud of who I am. I feel I have achieved everything I could ever possibly have hoped to achieve out of rugby and I did it being gay. I want to send a positive message to other gay people that they can do it, too.

My sport was my comfort. The routine, the camaraderie, the team… everyone’s around you. After rugby you’re on your own.

My parents, my family and my friends all love me and accept me for who I am and, even if the public are upset by this, I know the love of those people who mean the most to me will never change.

The World Cup has not been kind to us overall.

I like to think I’m a bit of a son of the country, I’ve played for the country so many times I feel proud to be Welsh. It’s accepted me for what I am and what I do.

If you could bottle that special feeling you sometimes get in a dressing room just before a match, you’d be a billionaire.

If I hadn’t had the rugby field to get rid of my aggression I would have been locked up a long time ago.

My fear of coming out wasn’t about rejection. I was scared people would say: ‘Why were you lying to me? If you’ve been lying about that what else are you lying about?’ Lying is my biggest regret.

I know it’s not easy for people to get to a gym.

When I started doing Twitter, I realised there were so many people following me who were going through the same thing I was going through.

I was able to come out as gay publicly because my family had accepted me. They thought nothing of it, and without them I wouldn’t have been able to do it. If I didn’t have them in my life I would have felt like I had no one.

In Toulouse, you immersed yourself in the culture of the place.

I don’t know if my life is going to be easier because I’m out but, if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to ChildLine, then it will have been worth it.

Playing rugby has been my whole life and for me, keeping fit was part of my job. But when I gave up my career, I was determined to keep motivated, and that isn’t always easy when you have lost the competitive edge to it.

I’m terrible for road rage.

Every gay man will tell you that ‘coming out’ is like a weight lifted from your shoulders and beng able to walk down the street knowing that there is nothing for me to hide has been a liberating experience.

There are days when I wake up and do not know who I am any more.

I became the master of playing the straight bat – I would go to bars with the boys, I would always be the one to start a fight, to be outrageous and drink the most. I even went to the extreme of marrying the perfect woman for me.

Someone said on social media that I was the son of Satan for being open about my sexuality. I told my mother, and she laughed and said, ‘Well, what the hell does that make me?’

It has always been my ambition to be captain of Wales over a sustained period of time.

My brain acts bizarrely and I keep having major mood swings.

I am not interested in individual glory.

All I’m concerned about is that I’m with a good squad of players and want us to be competitive and I’m not looking for anything more.

I’ve been through the first cap, the 50th, and the 100th, and I defy any player who has ever gone past all those milestones to look at each of them and say that first cap isn’t the one that makes him tingle the most.

When you lie you live in fear as well.

It’s not about shutting people up or proving them wrong. It’s about proving to ourselves what we’re about.

You cannot afford to take any risks where your health is concerned.

When you cross the whitewash, you only think about the present.

People can be really famous in Wales for rugby, but outside of Wales nobody really has a clue who you are or what you’ve done.

It was a huge honour to be chosen by the Lions and to lead the side, but the greatest of all is to represent your country and win.

It’s too easy to forget bad things. By keeping the reminders close, it’s the reminder of not just who you are, but how you became what you are.

People say getting fit is 90% diet and 10% exercise, but that’s bollocks. If you train hard you earn the right to a chocolate bar.

I find it hard to believe that people can be jealous of other people’s success.

If I keep getting letters or if I keep getting messages from people who are still taking strength from my story, who are still finding it difficult and struggling, then you know what, then I’ll keep doing what I do.

Growing up I wasn’t aware of a single gay person in our town. The only people who were gay that you had any idea of were Kenny Everett and people like him on TV. I thought, that’s not what I am.

I’m un-self-sufficient. I can’t look after myself. I really can’t.

I hate driving.