Sam Smith reveals he’s ‘just as much a woman as I am a man’ as he opens up about gender identity

Sam Smith has said that he feels “just as much a woman” as he does a man in a candid interview about his gender identity.

The Grammy-winning singer, 25, revealed that he used to cross-dress as a teenager and at one stage “didn’t own a male piece of clothing”.

“There was on moment in my life where I didn't own a piece of male clothing, really. I would wear full make-up every day in school, eyelashes, leggings with Dr Martens and huge fur coats, for two and a half years,” he told Sunday Times Culture.

Smith said he took inspiration from his musical idols including Boy George and Marilyn, but was sometimes bullied as a result.

“I feel just as much woman as I am man. I got teased for it. But there were also people respecting me for walking around like that in my school," he said.

When asked if he identified solely as male, Smith showed the Venus tattoo on his finger, saying: “No. I mean, I’ve got these tattoos on my fingers.”

The singer said that the news songs on his forthcoming album have helped his “growth, my confidence” and “show the gay guy I’ve become”.

“Looking back on it, it was the fear of saying the wrong thing and offending,” he said of his early years as a singer/songwriter.

“And I was 19 when I started writing the first album. I’d just moved to London from a village - I was literally the only gay in the village. I didn’t know what I wanted to say.”

Smith, who rose to fame back in 2012 on Disclosure’s Latch, enjoyed global success with his chart-topping 2014 album, In the Lonely hour.