'X Factor's' Joe McElderry Says Coming Out Gay Wasn't 'Traumatic'

Joseph “Joe” McElderry says his coming out gay in July wasn't 'traumatic' and the decision was his own.

McElderry won the sixth season of the UK's singing talent contest The X Factor last year.

Since then, he's climbed to the top of the UK and Irish charts with his number one single The Climb. His debut studio album Wide Awake, produced with the help of former American Idol judge and The X Factor creator Simon Cowell, is out now.

In July, the 19-year-old fresh-faced McElderry came out gay, telling UK tabloid The Sun that he's “proud” to be gay. He had previously denied such rumors. But he described an incident in which someone hacked his Twitter and published a post saying he had been “living a lie” as a turning point. “I think the Twitter thing was the point when I realized I was gay,” he said at the time.

In a new interview with UK daily Metro, McElderry insists the decision to come out of the closet was all his own.

When asked, “Was announcing you're gay a traumatic experience?” McElderry answered: “Not really. I was nervous about it but I'm glad I've done it and I can now move forward and get on with the rest of my life. I wasn't pressured into doing it. It was all my own decision.”