The 30-year-old freestyle skier memorably made history in 2015 when he became the first action sports star to come out as gay.
Three years later at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kenworthy kissed his then-partner Matt Wilkas on live television before his qualifying run in the men’s slopestyle; which has since been lauded as a significant moment for the visibility of LGBTQ+ athletes. “It was the visual representation of my games: getting to be one of the first openly gay athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics for the US,” he tells GAY TIMES. “That will always be quite high on my list of accomplishments – not necessarily the kiss itself, but the kiss is sort of a clean visual of how I felt during that games and what I got to experience there.” Now, Kenworthy is one of the world’s most high-profile LGBTQ+ athletes with 1.2 million Instagram followers.
He also boasts television credits such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, American Horror Story: 1984, Will & Grace and Coming Out Colton.