Passion Pit singer Michael Angelakos comes out as gay

In a frank conversation on author Bret Easton Ellis's podcast, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos came out as gay, discussing his sexuality and divorce for the first time publicly.

"I am saying something that I've never said before publicly," Angelakos told Ellis, explaining his decision to come out on the podcast, in a safe setting in conversation with another artist he respected. "I've told very few people in my personal small circles because I don't know how to talk about it, you know?"

"When this was all happening recently, finally, I just decided it might be best to talk about it here. I don't really know what happened, but it's just one of those gut feelings. It's the same gut feeling I had when I said, 'Okay, I kind of just need to talk to people about the fact that I am.'

I'm gay. And that's it. It just has to happen. This was exactly the type of situation where I don't feel like I'm being threatened."  

The singer also discussed his divorce with Kirsty Mucci earlier this fall, saying she was "incredible" and supportive of his decision, and that he was able to deal with his sexuality by "putting it off in my head" because of the pair's close friendship.

"I just wanted so badly to be straight, because I love her so much," he said. "I think that was one of the most painful things when we decided to separate."

Angelakos identified a lack of gay role models as one of the reasons he hesitated to come out publicly sooner. "I didn't see the powerful dude at the corner office of the Fortune 500 company, even though I didn't aspire to be that, that guy wasn't gay the way he was portrayed," he said. "So I just thought, 'Well, if I become gay, I'm never going to become any of these cool things that I keep wanting to be.' And...how much of myself can I edit so that I can be?

On Twitter, Angelakos thanked fans for their support.

Listen to their entire conversation here (Angelakos begins discussing his sexuality around the 49-minute mark).