We’re not crying, you’re crying.
A farmer came out to his family this week on the Australian TV show This Time Next Year, and it’s got us a bit misty.
The show profiles Australians looking to make a big change in the next 365 days, and follow ups with them at the end of the year. Brad Purdy, 36, went on the show with the goal of finding a partner.
But he knew to do that he’d have to come out to his family, so the cameras followed him to his home in New South Wales, where he sat around an outdoor table with his four sisters, his brother, and his uncle to share the part of himself he’d been keeping from them his entire life.
After Brad came out, he nervously awaited their response.
“Oh, well,” one of his sisters said, “the only sad thing is that you haven’t been able to tell us [before].”
Brad’s uncle, Mick, stood up and hugged him. “In this day and age, there’s no difference,” he announced. “You’re only on this earth for a short amount of time, so you’ve got to be the person you want to be for the time that you’re here.”
His brother, tough-looking Jeffrey Purdy, stayed silent the longest. His eyes filled with tears, and Brad later admitted he was worried they were tears of disappointment.
But it turned out it was a welling up of emotion and love, and a bit of guilt over the fact that had anything to do with his brother being in the closet so long. “I had no idea, like,” Jeffrey said. “I sort of felt a bit to blame, because he thought I’d ‘go off’ or whatever.”
“I love him to death,” big brother Jeffrey added, “Nothing will change with me. I love him and always will.”
Brad said it was a “massive relief” that his family took it so well. ” I was surprised about my brother—he didn’t speak for so long. When he started welling up, I was unsure if that was anger or shock.”
“There was quite a few times there I felt like running,” he told the show. “But… we got there. It’s nice to wake up and think ‘What am I going to do today?’ instead of going over the last 20,000 lies you’ve told.”
A follow-up clip revealed that, 12 months after coming out to his family, Brad is still single. He’d been dating someone for a while but it hadn’t worked out, so he was back on the market. But after last night’s episode, he probably won’t be for long: More than 1.2 million Australians tuned in to watch his heartwarming story.
