Omar Apollo Calls Growing Up Gay With Catholic Rules 'Heartbreaking'

Omar Apollo has been open about his sexuality during his rise to fame, but recently spoke about how that wasn’t always possible with the way he was raised.

The “Evergreen” singer got his start with music, in part, thanks to his Catholic upbringing. He performed in the choir as a child and played guitar at church before moving on to seeking out gigs elsewhere.

But organized religion had its obvious downsides for him as well, something he touched on in a recent interview with GQ.

“All the rules, man. Can’t be gay. Can’t cuss. Can’t do drugs. I’m just like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’” he recalled. “It’s terrible. Really heartbreaking. But whatever.”

Back in December, Apollo broached the topic of Catholicism with The LA Times as well, acknowledging the negative impact the “insane amount of Catholic guilt” he used to have had on his songwriting.

“I was afraid to say certain things when I was first making music because of it. It was like, ‘Oh, you’re damning the world to hell.’ It’s kind of scary,” he admitted.

Apollo has clearly become less concerned with following restrictive religious rules as he’s grown into himself. Last year, he even made waves on Twitter by bluntly responding to accusations of queerbaiting by telling fans “no i b sucking dick fr.”

And with heart-wrenching songs that fans are connecting with, it’s safe to assume that shedding those shackles has helped him both find his musical voice and continue on the path of his own personal journey.

“I used to think happiness is a place I’d get to when I was older, but I feel happy all the time throughout the day and I feel terribly sad all the time,” he said. “Everything you need is already here.”