Ex-NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan nearly killed himself instead of coming out as gay

By Des Bieler June 21 at 8:49 AM

Many NFL players have trouble figuring out what to do with their lives after their athletic careers end. Ryan O’Callaghan’s plan was to end his life, all the better to take his secret to the grave.

O’Callaghan was a gay man who dared not let anyone know about it and who saw a football career as the perfect cover to avoid any questions about his sexuality. That career took the hulking offensive lineman from the University of California to the New England Patriots and then to the Kansas City Chiefs, where a few members of the organization were finally able to help O’Callaghan realize that he could live with his true self.

O’Callaghan had gone so far as to build a cabin outside his home in Kansas City, stock it with guns and write a suicide note, before deciding that he should take a risk on acceptance. Now 33 and out of the NFL since 2011, he recounted his personal and professional journey to Outsports in a feature published Tuesday.

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Of the possibility of coming out, O’Callaghan told Cyd Zeigler of Outsports, “All I had ever done was think how bad the reaction would be. It takes a lot more strength to be honest with yourself than it does to lie.”

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