Former professional wrestler Pierre Clermont, better known by his ring name Pat Patterson, has come out gay.

The 73-year-old Patterson, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996, discussed his sexuality publicly for the first time during the season finale of the WWE produced reality show Legends' House. The show follows eight wrestling legends living in a house in Palm Springs, California over the course of two months.

In the episode, titled Farewell my Friends, the men share private moments of their lives as they prepare to depart the house.

Patterson revealed he was gay and had lived for 40 years with a partner who died of a heart attack.

“For once in my life I'm going to be me. I survived all this being gay,” he said, a reference to a difficult childhood in Quebec.

“I lived with that for 50-some years,” an emotional Patterson said. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)