Athlete Gus Kenworthy recently opened up about his transition into acting, admitting that it’s not an easy craft.
The former Olympic freestyle skier, who has appeared in projects like American Horror Story: 1984 and 80 for Brady, sat down for the Feb. 27 episode of the Who’s the A——? with Katya podcast to discuss everything from skiing lingo to dating etiquette. During the conversation, Kenworthy got candid about the realities of his new chosen career.
“It’s really hard, and then when you’re like in the moment [on set] it’s definitely, like, particularly hard,” Kenworthy, 33, said. “But I think the thing I like about it is that, like, you can kind of do it forever. And like, with skiing, with sports, there’s like such an expiration on it. With acting, you can just kind of keep getting better and better.”
He continued: “I feel like I was pretty much at kind of like the ceiling for [skiing] and I was 32 at this last Olympics. I feel like the peak age is between like 18 and 25.”
Host Katya then joked that Kenworthy could “do porn” — to which Kenworthy replied that it’s not necessarily out of the question.
“Honestly, that was like a ‘No no no,’ [for me], and now I’m like, ‘Maybe,’ ” he said with a smile.
The silver medalist went on to say that while medal winners technically receive a modest monetary prize for placing in the Olympics, they are taxed on their winnings and are not compensated for the majority of their training time nor for any of their time at the Games.
“And that’s why there’s all the stories of athletes working all these different jobs and that’s why there’s grants and stuff because basically some countries do pay their athletes to be on the team, but the U.S. does not,” he explained.
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The athlete also shared that his dream is to either “act or host,” and that while he wouldn’t ever want to only be known as a sports commentator, he would he open to providing commentary at certain key skiing events.
“I would do that. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into doing that all the time at all of the different events, but I would definitely do it at the Olympics. If I were able to cherry-pick which events I got to do,” he said.
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Kenworthy — who came out as gay in 2015 — was one of the first action sport athletes to ever come out publicly, per his bio on Olympics.com. He spoke out about his decision to come out during an interview with the U.K.’s Gay Times in 2018, saying that he hoped coming out would help younger people feel empowered to live their truths.
“It’s more important than ever to have representation and visibility because it will inspire the next generation,” he told the outlet. “Being gay isn’t the only part of me, but it’s the best part of me and it’s one of my favorite parts of me,” he added.
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