Zoe Ball’s son Woody Cook has come out as bisexual
Woody Cook said being bisexual was more accepted these days (w00dy_c00k/instagram)
Woody Cook, son of BBC Radio 2 host Zoe Ball, has come out as bisexual.
The 18-year-old model revealed in an interview published on Monday (January 28) in US magazine Boys By Girls that when he came out to his mum, she initially denied his sexuality.
Cook said that “her first reaction was: ‘You can’t be, you like girls?'”
“I got her to look back upon her group of friends and she started to realise she knew more bi people then she thought. I think it was a bigger thing in her time,” Cook continued.
Woody Cook with his parents Zoe Ball and Norman Cook (Tim P. Whitby/Getty)
“Some people assume it’s an in-between before you are gay. But really, it’s a thing on its own.
“I’m sure a lot of gay and straight people who are in that generation are bi, but have never come out or never even realised it because it wasn’t really talked about.”
Cook, who is also the son of Norman Cook—better known as Fatboy Slim—revealed that he hadn’t talked about being bisexual with his older relatives.
“None of my grandparents know, and they might be finding out after this interview,” he said.
Woody Cook opens up about realising he was bisexual
Cook explained how he found out he was bisexual, saying: “It’s something I’ve known for three years. I always felt, growing up, that I had all these thoughts and I just shook it off.
“Then one day I was at a party, and there was this girl I really liked who said: ‘It’s a shame you’re not a girl, I’m only really into girls—it’s great being gay.’
“And I said: ‘Yeah, I’m gay too, I’m bisexual.’ I just said it as a laugh at the time, but then the next day I woke up and thought: ‘Why did I say that?'” Cook recalled.
“We’ve come to a new age where sexuality is so much less of a thing.”
— Woody Cook
“And then, the more I thought about it I thought: ‘Oh my god, that explains everything!’ And then it was that miracle moment, where my entire life had been really conflicted, and I suddenly realised that was it.”
He said that he endured negative responses from some, but that those close to him greeted the news.
“All my friends were really accepting at the time,” recalled Cook. “I did get a bit of s**t at my school for a while, but at the end of the day, I don’t really care.”
He said that this was “sort of the age of bisexuality. We’ve come to a new age where sexuality is so much less of a thing.
“I mean, it can still be a thing and a lot of people still care, but there are enough people who don’t care. I feel like it’s the time for everyone to be liberal about it.”
Woody Cook speaks out about trans rights
Cook said that the situation was much worse for trans people.
“I think acceptance for trans people is still awful,” he said. “As much as we don’t mind sexuality anymore, I feel like we’re still really backwards around people who are trans.
“A person is been born like that, so I don’t understand why we should treat he or she any differently. I’ve got friends who are trans and I’ve heard some horrid stuff.
“It feels like there is a lot further we need to come in acceptance for trans people.”
