Sam Smith Says They Want Kids by 35: ‘I Want to Watch Them Grow and Be with Them Every Day’

Sam Smith says they feel less afraid since coming out as non-binary.

The 28-year-old “To Die For” singer opened up to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about their journey to self-acceptance and fully actualizing the feelings they felt since childhood. Smith said they first came out to their family as gay at age 10, but later came out as non-binary in March 2019.

By September of that year, the artist publicly announced their preferred pronouns to be “they/them.”

“Look, I’ve always been non-binary. I’ve always felt the way I felt. When I changed my pronouns, things got complicated for sure,” recalled Smith. “I felt a need to be presenting — all the time. It took time; it took real time.”

Smith, whose latest album Love Goes drops Friday, explained that they’ve had to adopt a patient mentality when encountering people who mistakenly call them by “he/him” pronouns.

“I’ve had to just go into myself and try and deal with it in a real kind way and patience, and just know that everyone’s working on this. It’s going to take time,” Smith said. “We’re changing a language here.”

Regardless of how others are catching up, however, Smith said that they feel a newfound freedom in fully actualizing their gender expression every day.