I was super excited about this episode! I chat with Paul, a gay man about his life. Get ready for some ups and downs and crazy twists and turns! So good! Paul talks about abandonment issues from his mom, coming out as gay to his dad and school, marrying a woman, adopting two kids with his wife, divorce, marrying a man, divorce again and cancer.*

Paul was 8 years old when his parents got a divorce. His dad got custody of him and his brother because their mom was an alcoholic and drug addict. Paul says his dad was a workaholic and his brother was very different from him, so he felt very isolated as a child.

When Paul was about 11 years old, he started realizing the reason why he was looking at all the cute boys in school, instead of the girls. When Paul was 13 years old, he wrote his dad a note because he felt like he couldn’t say it out loud, to his face. He held on to the note for the right time. The time came a lot sooner than Paul expected because his dad had went through his book bag and found the note himself.

Not long after his dad found out, so did his peers. At that point, Paul lost all of his friends and began to get beat up – even by his own brother. He did end up becoming friends with another “black sheep” of the school. After visiting her house a few times, the girl’s mother began taking an interest in Paul. “When you’re that alone and someone gives you attention, you will take it from whoever will give it to you.”

Paul ended up marrying a woman. His friend’s mom, in fact. Together, they adopted two kids. At 19 years old.

Listen to the full episode to hear all the details.

LINKS TO THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
–Stacy’s Mom song
-Paul’s favorite book: Old Man’s War
-Paul’s song recommendation: The Climb by Miley Cyrus (listen on the Hard Knocks Guest List on Spotify)
–Paul’s email
–Paul’s Instagram
-My ending song recommendation: The One by Theory of a Deadman (listen on the Hard Knocks playlist on Spotify)

“Cutting people out of my life doesn’t mean I hate them; it means I respect myself.”