Nicola Adams: ‘Be your true self in a world that is always telling you to be something else’

I am so thrilled to be part of Metro.co.uk’s Pride Takeover. Pride means so much to me – it is a time to celebrate and embrace who you are and to enjoy being proud of who you are.

My role in this campaign is to help get across how important it is to try and be your true self in a world that is always telling you to be something else. It is all about being inclusive and the Metro Pride Takeover is a really great concept, that I was very eager to be a part of to support the LGBTQ+ community.

It is so important for people to share their own stories and experiences. I came out when I was a teenager to my mum. I was really nervous at first, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know whether she would be angry or upset or whether she would be fine with it.

I got the courage up to tell her. Mum was in the kitchen and in the end, she wasn’t even bothered at all, which was awesome. She told me she already knew and told me to stick the kettle on! I had been stressing so much over what her reaction would be for weeks. Thankfully, it was completely fine.

But what was more important for me was that I could finally be myself. I could be happy with who I am.

When you are carrying such a big secret, it is a heavy weight on your shoulders. So to be free of that and be able to be true to myself, it was a very nice feeling.

I think one of the main goals for this Pride Takeover is to help people who find themselves in that situation, where they don’t know how people around them are going to react. That is what it is all about.

I am hoping one day that people won’t have to come out anymore. That it will be like it is with heterosexual couples in society. It will be seen enough out there that it isn’t a question of ‘coming out’, you just love who