Jason Collins made sports history this week, in a splashy cover for Sports Illustrated, when he became the first openly gay male professional athlete, drawing praise from fellow athletes, journalists and politicians, including President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
But for years, Collins, who came out with the simple line “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay,” was so guarded about his sexual orientation that he even kept it hidden from his ex-fiancée, former WNBA player Carolyn Moos.
Moos, who was in a relationship with Collins for eight years, told TMZ that she never understood why he broke off the engagement in 2009.
"It's very emotional for me as a woman to have invested eight years in my dream to have a husband, soul mate, and best friend in him. So this is all hard to understand," she said.
She added, however, that, "I care about [Jason] tremendously and only want the best for him. I want Jason to be happy for a lifetime and stay true to who he really is, inside and out."
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