Michael Sam, the NFL's first openly gay player, says he didn't speak to boyfriend Vito Cammisano for two years after the pair first met.

Sam discussed coming out and meeting Cammisano in an interview with gay glossy Out.

“We didn't start off as huge fans of each other,” Sam said.

The couple met at a lingerie party during Sam's freshman year at the University of Missouri.

Cammisano, a star swimmer, was dressed as a rabbit as he violently puked over a railing.

“I went up to him to ask if he was OK, and he started cursing at me, screaming, 'Fuck off – do you know who I am?' I told him I didn't care who he was. We didn't speak again for two years,” Sam said.

A congratulatory kiss shared between the men on live television during the NFL draft sparked controversy.

(Related: Robin Roberts on Michael Sam kiss: Did you expect them to shake hands?)

On coming out, Sam said that he was accepted by his Missouri teammates: “Mizzou is a family. At another school, it might have been a different story.”