Blue's Duncan James 'proud to be gay' thanks to new boyfriend

Duncan James has said his boyfriend makes him feel proud to be gay after many years of insecurity over his sexuality.

The Blue singer had posted a sweet snap of him snuggling up to boyfriend Rodrigo Reis on Instagram, but later reposted it on Twitter to thank fans for their outpouring of support.

Read more: Duncan James reveals his biggest fear about coming out

He wrote: “I posted this pic on my Insta yesterday & couldn’t get over the amazing response, comments and love from people. I didn’t identify as a gay man for many years because of my own issues with coming out, but finally im happy in my skin and this guy next 2 me makes me proud 2 be gay.”

James, 41, first revealed that he was bisexual in 2009 and then eventually came out as gay in 2012, speaking to his bandmate Simon Webbe about it.

He said: "When I told Simon, he encouraged me to speak to my mum, who was in LA with me in a hotel at the time.

"I raided my mini bar, drank a load of drinks, then knocked on her door.

Read more: Simon Webbe dismisses Strictly Curse

"I was sobbing and I sat her down and said: 'Remember my friend Pete? I’ve been in love with him. He’s been my secret boyfriend.'

"She said: 'You’re gay? I thought you were going to say you had cancer.'"

The popstar has a 14-year-old daughter, Tianie-Finn, from a previous relationship and appears to have been dating Reis for at least the last month, when he started sharing photos of them together.

When James first posted the photo of himself and Reis on Instagram, he captioned it: “Cute pic alert!! Such a beautiful person inside and out. Thankyou @rodrigolopesreis for making me smile.”

Reis is Brazilian but lives in Belgium, and the couple recently spent time together at Amsterdam’s Tropikali Festival.

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