In a new interview, singer-songwriter Sam Smith discussed the difficulties they faced coming out as non-binary.

Smith came out last year, changing their pronouns to they/them.

Smith, who is promoting their third studio album Love Goes, made the comments during an appearance on CBS This Morning.

“Gender, for me, has been nothing but traumatizing and challenging throughout my life,” Smith said. “It's so hard to explain. I just feel like myself. I don't feel like a man, basically.”

“I honestly, I can't express to enough people how much courage it's taken [to come out]. I wasn't prepared for the amount of ridicule. And bullying, really, that I've experienced.”

The 28-year-old added that they had no queer role models growing up in rural Cambridgeshire, England.

“I grew up in a village with no access to queer people and queer spaces until I was 19, 20. So a lot of my growing up was as a gay person and as a queer person has happened in front of people,” Smith said, referring to his public life.

“It's going so much better. After being able to talk about my gender expression, I feel such a weight has been lifted,” they added.