Advertisement

Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos comes out as gay

By Marilyn Malara
Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos performs during The Climate Rally concert in Washington in 2010. Angelakos discussed his sexuality in an interview on Bret Easton Ellis' podcast Monday. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos performs during The Climate Rally concert in Washington in 2010. Angelakos discussed his sexuality in an interview on Bret Easton Ellis' podcast Monday. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos discussed confusion regarding his sexuality in an interview with Bret Easton Ellis, revealing on air that he is gay.

The famed singer discussed how the end of his marriage to Kirsty Mucci had much to do with his sexuality.

Advertisement

"I just wanted so badly to be straight, because I love her so much," he said. "I think that was one of the most painful things about when we decided to separate."

About half of Angelakos' hourlong interview Monday on Ellis' podcast centered on why the 28-year-old musician "put off" fully realizing his sexuality. He said it was comfort that kept him from coming out.

"I lived in such a straight group of people that -- not that anyone wasn't going to be understanding -- it was just not the time," he said. "This was, like, dudes in bands talking about girls...it was so easy at the time to talk about girls, so I just kept writing about them."

Another factor that dissuaded Angelakos from facing his homosexuality at a younger age, he said, was the general lack of strong gay role models growing up.

Advertisement

"I didn't see the powerful dude at the corner office of the Fortune 500 company, even though I didn't aspire to be that, that guy wasn't gay the way he was portrayed," he said.

"So I just thought, well, if I become gay, I'm never going to become any of these cool things that I keep wanting to be. And it was as though how much of myself can I edit so that I can be? And honestly that wasn't a conscious decision, at least after a certain point, but certainly now I look back at it and I'm just like 'Well, how much of me would have been better if I'd just stopped caring?"

Angelakos also deals with bipolar disorder, and explained to Billboard over the summer how he has been coping.

"I don't want it to win," he said. "I feel probably more stable than I've ever felt in my life. It's unsettling. I'm so used to the constant barrage of swings just because I haven't figured it out."

Latest Headlines