CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Defensive tackle Esera Tuaolo, who played for five National Football League teams during his nine years as a pro, has given an interview to HBO's Real Sports revealing that he's gay, the pay-cable network revealed Thursday. The episode will debut Tuesday, October 29, and will be repeated into November. A cover story interview with Tuaolo--and with Mitchell Wherley, his life partner of 5-1/2 years--will follow in The Advocate in early November. Tuaolo, a graduate of Oregon State University who grew up in Hawaii and graduated from high school in Chino, Calif., retired from the NFL at the end of the 1999 season. He now lives in Minneapolis, where he settled during his years with the Minnesota Vikings in the mid 1990s. He was a second-round draft pick in 1990 and also played for the Green Bay Packers, the Atlanta Falcons--with whom he went to Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999--and the Carolina Panthers. Tuaolo, 34, told HBO that his retirement was in part a result of the pressures that resulted from being closeted for nine seasons, the New York Post reported Thursday, based on a transcript of the interview. "They didn't know who Esera Tuaolo is," he said. "What they saw was an actor." Other players often told gay jokes in the locker room, he said, and as a result "made me go further and further into depression, further and further into shame." Also an accomplished singer, Tuaolo has sung on two compilation albums featuring NFL players and also has self-released his own CD, One Man's Island. He sang the national anthem on a nationally broadcast NFL game during his rookie year, one of many appearances singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at sporting events, beginning while he was in college. Also interviewed by HBO was ESPN correspondent Sterling Sharpe, who was on the Packers team with Tuaolo. Had his teammate come out while still in the NFL, the Post quotes Sharpe as saying, "he would have been eaten alive, and he would have been hated for it." Tuaolo's partner, Wherley, with whom the ex-footballer is raising 2-year-old twins, will also appear on the HBO program. Tuaolo is only the third NFL player to reveal he's gay. The first was David Kopay, in 1975. Ex-player Roy Simmons also disclosed he was gay, in a 1992 television appearance, although Simmons has since disappeared from public view. Kopay's autobiography, The David Kopay Story, was recently reprinted by Advocate Books. Tuaolo's story, including an exclusive print interview with his life partner, will appear in The Advocate and on Advocate.com beginning November 11.
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
31 Period Films of Lesbians and Bi Women in Love That Will Take You Back
December 09 2024 1:00 PM
18 of the most batsh*t things N.C. Republican governor candidate Mark Robinson has said
October 30 2024 11:06 AM
True
After 20 years, and after tonight, Obama will no longer be the Democrats' top star
August 20 2024 12:28 PM
Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
September 13 2024 2:28 PM
These 15 major companies caved to the far right and stopped DEI programs
January 24 2025 1:11 PM
True
Latest Stories
Utah legislature passes a restrictive anti-transgender college student housing plan law
February 12 2025 8:53 AM
In a major win for trans students, New Jersey court rules against forced outing policies
February 12 2025 8:47 AM
Should I break up with my partner who watches OnlyFans during sex?
February 12 2025 7:00 AM
Lawsuit challenges Trump's 'two genders' passport policy
February 12 2025 6:00 AM
Immigration's public image crisis is fueled by Trump and right-wing extremists
February 11 2025 7:10 PM
Pete Hegseth receives jeers from U.S. service members’ families at military base in Germany
February 11 2025 5:12 PM
Booz Allen Hamilton drops sponsorship of WorldPride, cites Donald Trump's anti-DEI order
February 11 2025 4:29 PM
Dad's heartwarming reaction to his son coming out as gay goes viral 8 years later
February 11 2025 12:55 PM