Tom Daley's Gay Relationship Video 'Confuses' Grandparents

Tom Daley's brave video left grandparents Rosemary and David 'confused' (YouTube)

Relatives of Tom Daley have admitted to feeling "confused" after the Olympic diver came out and admitted that he was in a relationship with another man.

Daley revealed his same-sex relationship in a video posted on his personal YouTube channel. The 19-year-old has won praise for being open about his sexuality and for scotching non-stop web rumours about his sexual orientation. But he admitted in his YouTube confession: "My family have mixed opinions on me coming out."

Grandparents Rosemary and David Daley pledged to support him but admitted they were surprised by his declaration.

Rosemary, 65, said: "We only found out at 5pm on Sunday when he came to see us. We are confused because he's always had girlfriends. We asked him if he was absolutely sure. He's our first grandson from our son who died.

"We have always been supportive of him and we always will."

Daley's grandmother admitted that she worried that he had acted too soon by going public.

"We're not old-fashioned, in fact we're quite liberal," she said. "But I do think he's too young to be making this sort of decision. But we hugged him, we thanked him for coming to see us, and we'll be seeing him over Christmas. We'll always be here for Tom."

Their confusion may have been compounded by Daley's own words on the subject only 12 weeks ago when he told gay magazine Attitude: "I think it's funny when people say I'm gay. I laugh it off. I'm not.

"But even if I was, I wouldn't be ashamed. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest what people thought."

He can rely upon family support, said grandfather David, 66. "We've always been loyal supporters of Tom and there's no reason that that will change," he said.

Support for Daley has flooded in from celebrities but he has also been the victim of offensive messages on Twitter.

BBC host Gary Lineker told his followers: "Delighted that @TomDaley1994 is happy in his new relationship. Well done for sharing it. Good luck to them both."

Taking aim at Twitter trolls, Lineker wrote: "They may be a small minority, but some of the homophobic bile on here is disgusting and pathetic. Grow up you morons!"

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