Olympic legend Dame Kelly Holmes says Covid didn’t just take her breath away — it gave her the breath to finally speak her truth.
The 55-year-old track icon, known for her double gold victory in Athens 2004, revealed in a new interview that contracting Covid led her to finally come out publicly as a lesbian. “Covid became quite traumatic,” she said, “I was internalising those thoughts of ‘I don’t want to live my life like this.’” And just like that, a respiratory virus cracked open the closet doors that had been bolted shut since 1988.
It turns out, Holmes had been running from more than just finish lines. She first realized she was gay while serving in the British army, when a fellow female soldier kissed her. But with a strict ban on LGBTQ+ service members in place at the time, Holmes feared prosecution. That fear kept her silent for decades. “Nobody knew that the ban was actually the underlying reason for not coming out,” she said, adding that the weight of that secret nearly crushed her.
Finding Her Voice After Isolation
The global pandemic may have forced many of us into solitude, but for Holmes, it brought clarity. While recovering from Covid, she sought out a psychologist for the first time. That moment of vulnerability led to a revelation — not just about her identity, but about how little the world really understood the barriers she had faced. In June 2022, she came out publicly, finally telling the world what she had kept hidden for so long.
And the transformation? “It changed everything about me,” Holmes said, calling herself “happy for the first time in my life.” Since then, she’s not just surviving — she’s thriving.
She’s now happily in a relationship with Louise Cullen, a sports massage therapist from Northern Ireland. The two stepped out publicly for the first time at the European Diversity Awards in 2023. Holmes didn’t just find love — she found visibility. And for the thousands of LGBTQ athletes still watching from the sidelines, that’s a game changer.
Why Her Coming Out Still Matters
While it’s easy to dismiss yet another celebrity coming out as just another feel-good story, Holmes’ case shows how institutional policies — like the UK’s former military ban on LGBTQ personnel — have lasting psychological effects. Her silence wasn’t just personal. It was political. It was systemic. And now that she’s finally free, she’s using her voice to break more than just personal records.
Her story serves as a powerful reminder that the LGBTQ community still carries wounds from eras of forced invisibility. But it also shows that healing is possible — even if it arrives in the most unexpected ways.
And for every queer person still gasping for air in a closeted world, Dame Kelly Holmes is proof that sometimes, it takes a pandemic to remind you how precious breath — and truth — really are.