Ian Thorpe: 'I was bullied before coming out'

Five-time Olympic gold-medalist Ian Thorpe has revealed he felt pressured to come out, but only made the announcement when he felt ready.

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Speaking to 2Day FM's Rove and Sam this morning, the legendary swimmer said the situation was "quite complicated".

"I was sort of...accused...of being gay when I was very young, still a child, and I wasn't comfortable with it at the time," he revealed.

"In the end, I wasn't forced to come out, I came out when I was ready."

"That’s the important thing for anyone, is you shouldn’t put pressure on anyone around their sexuality, people come out in their own time."

The 33-year-old is currently working on a documentary series, The Bully Project, which encourages Australians to share their stories about bullying.

Thorpe shared that since coming out, he has realised the positive effect he has had on younger Australians struggling with their sexuality.

"What I’ve realised in being out is that you can become an example that makes it easier for someone else to come out as well," he said.

"That’s a really important thing [that I] didn't realise that until I came out."

The swimmer also spoke about accusations that his announcement - which occurred during a television interview with Michael Parkinson - was "commercialised", and told Rove and Sam that the interview was well and truly organised before he decided to use it as a platform to discuss his sexuality.

"Over the years, I’ve been offered tremendous amounts of money to come out on specific programs and I’ve always turned it down. Nor would I want someone to be out there, shopping around a story like that…it’s just not me," he said.

"I just really struggled with [coming out]...you can't be a winner at everything," he laughed.

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