Frank Ocean Says Writing Open Letter Lifted "Boulder On My Chest"

Original Story Earlier this month, Frank Ocean released an open letter where he revealed that his first love was a man.

Now, for the first time, the Odd Future singer has spoken on the matter in an interview.

"People are just afraid of things too much," said Ocean to UK's The Guardian. "Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. ...[W]hat's physically going to happen? Me saying what I said on my Tumblr last week? Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me. But they could do the same just because I'm black. They could do the same just because I'm American. Do you just not go outside your house? Do you not drive your car because of the statistics? How else are you limiting your life for fear?"

Frank Ocean admitted that part of the reason for writing the letter was because he wishes he had a role model when he was younger. "I suppose a percentage of that act was because of altruism; because I was thinking of how I wished at 13 or 14 there was somebody I looked up to who would have said something like that, who would have been transparent in that way. But there's another side of it that's just about my own sanity and my ability to feel like I'm living a life where I'm not just successful on paper, but sure that I'm happy when I wake up in the morning, and not with this freakin' boulder on my chest."

"I knew that I was writing in a way that people would ask questions," he added, speaking of the career risk he was taking. "I knew that my star was rising, and I knew that if I waited I would always have somebody that I respected be able to encourage me to wait longer, to not say it till who knows when."