He made history as Married At First Sight’s first ever bisexual groom, but Liam Cooper has now spoken out about how his sexuality was outed in the show, expressing his “disappointment” over what went down.
WATCH: MAFS first bisexual groom Liam Cooper is outed at his wedding
The 29-year-old was forced to tell his new on-screen wife Georgia Fairweather that he was bisexual in front of everybody at their wedding reception, rather than in his own time on his own terms.
Liam appeared on Today Extra to express his disappointment at how it all happened, and that he shouldn’t have had to come out at all.
“Now looking back at it, I wish I would’ve been able to talk to Georgia – just me and her – instead of having the whole group to come out that way,” he said.
He added: “I’m a big believer in we shouldn’t have to have labels. Heterosexual people don’t have to come out, so why does anyone from the LGBTQI community have to come out?”
He also spoke with 9Entertainment and said that being bisexual doesn’t define who he is, and he often hates having to come out and announce it to people.
“I hate labels. I even hate having to say I’m bisexual. We shouldn’t live in a world where we have to put labels on each other,” he explained.
He also touched on how coming out can be a difficult time for many, and that he says the best way for people to take the news is to treat it as a non-issue and avoid making a big deal about it.
“Even with gay, lesbian, transgender, people just need to be like, ‘Oh yeah, cool, that’s great’… move on. There shouldn’t have to be a big uproar,” the reality star said.
On his wedding day, Liam married Georgia, and before he had a chance to open up to her about his sexuality, he was outed by fellow show participant Rebecca Zemek.
During the episode, Rebecca began grilling the newlyweds about what their non-negotiables were, which eventually led to Georgia offhandedly asking if he was bisexual.
“I am, yeah,” Liam said, leaving Georgie rather stunned by the revelation.
Afterwards, the 29-year-old prison case officer was later heard telling producers: “I can’t believe that that just happened in front of everyone.”
The scene was met with anger by viewers, as many believed it was handled wrong, and were also left wondering why the cast “laughed” at Liam’s sexuality.
“That was disgusting and cringe to watch. The poor bloke. He should never have been outed like that, and for them to then laugh at him the way they did,” one user took to Twitter to share.
It was later shown that his sexuality wasn’t an issue with his bride Georgia, and the pair were able to talk about it away from the group.
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