In a new interview with Attitude Magazine, Bachelor of the Year cover star Charlie Carver opens up about his childhood, coming out, and his relationship with his late father.
Carver rehashed why he came out on Instagram last January, saying “I didn’t really give a fuck at that point because, for me, not that I was living under duress, but I’d said to myself if I can’t do this when I’m young, I’m not sure I wanna stay in this business.” Carver added “I think the world is changing, representation is changing, and I wanted to be a part of that. I wouldn’t wanna be in this business if I couldn’t be a part of that.”
He also shared some intimate details about growing up with his late father, Robert Martensen, a noted historian and physicist. Martensen came out to Charlie when he was 12-years-old. He passed away in 2013.
Carver and his dad had a rocky relationship for a while, "I felt like I had all of a sudden someone who I was gonna be forced to become, and I didn’t wanna be like him. In the way that sons and fathers can have beef regardless of [sexual] orientation, it was just something where I wanted to be able to define myself, set my own rules."
Seeing his father struggle with his sexuality pushed Carver to explore his own. “It kind of propelled me into being louder and brasher and more experimental. And I think that hurt his feelings sometimes, but I think he was also grateful." He elaborated, "I was frustrated by what I would call some of his own internalised shame, that it almost became this challenge to really get to the bottom of that quickly, for me."
“I think he taught me, in the way that he lived his life, that your sexuality doesn’t define you. It’s an important part of who you are, but he had such a rich life..."
Read the full interview here.
