Telenovela hunk Roberto Manrique reflects after coming out 3 years ago: “Now I love myself more”
A post shared by Roberto Manrique (@robertomanrique13)It’s been three years since Ecuadorian model and telenovela star Roberto Manrique came out as gay at the age of 42.At the time, Manrique said his friends and family had known about his sexuality and so he hadn’t felt an urgency to come out of the closet. “I want to tell you something very important, very intimate, very personal, about which I have never spoken and now I have felt the urge to speak, and that is my sexuality,” he said, before revealing he was gay in a social media video back in August 2021.Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.A post shared by Roberto Manrique (@robertomanrique13)Recently, Manrique, now 45, shared a video reflecting on coming out publicly and disclosed how that moment was a bigger deal than he had realized as it helped him fully step into his most authentic self.The clip begins with a flashback to his initial coming out video and quickly cuts to him today discussing how being completely open about his identity with his more 3 million followers actually opened him up to so much more than he could have ever imagined.“But that day I felt like it was the step I definitely had to take to love myself more.
Period. So I said it,” he recounted. “I had no idea of what would happen. I had no idea I would live now with a new aura of authenticity and freedom.
I didn’t know I had so much ground to gain. Now I love myself more. I am more myself. Now I can love more.” A post shared by Roberto Manrique (@robertomanrique13)Manrique ended by encouraging others to not be fearful of living authentically.“So if you are afraid to take a step to be more yourself, whatever that may be, do it.
