A reality TV star has opened up about how figuring out his sexuality made him feel "like a burden in the world".
"I used to hold everything to my chest and show a fake face and a smile [while] inside I was crumbling," said Jake Devline-Reed, 29, from Swansea, who was a contestant on BBC Three's I Kissed a Boy in 2023.
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or a minority sexual orientation are more than twice as at risk of self-harm and suicide than heterosexual people.
Mr Devline-Reed has teamed up with not-for-profit men's mental health organisation Helpu to launch a new online support group to help gay and bisexual men across Wales.
"When I was in school, I used to get bullied for being chubby and my lisp, my dyslexia, and I got bullied when my dad passed away," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
"I struggled with my own mental health as a kid, finding healthy ways to manage my insecurities with gardening, walking, hiking, stuff like that.
"School is a bit brutal, especially when you're hitting puberty, not knowing what's happening next and not knowing your own sexuality as well.
"At one point, I reached that dark path where I felt like a burden in the world, felt like I didn't belong."
