Greek Singer George Perris reveals he’s gay: ‘I’m Relieved, I’m Happy and I’m Proud’

(NEW YORK) – George Perris is taking his armor off.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the Greek-French singer revealed he is gay.

“I do not consider this a coming out, in the sense that I never went into a closet,” Perris, 38, said over a Zoom interview from his home in Athens in early March. “I never hid my life. I’ve always lived the way I wanted to; it’s just that I didn’t have the courage to talk about it publicly.”

After spending years of struggling with his sexuality, Perris — whose new album, No Armor, drops on Wednesday — is ready to live authentically in the public eye.

“I’m relieved, I’m happy, and I’m proud of myself that I’m able to do this,” Perris says.

An Athens native, Perris knew he was gay from a young age. But he felt shame and society’s heteronormative pressures early on.

“I grew up believing that there was something wrong about me because, at the time, when you were a kid in the ’80s or ’90s, you came to believe there was something wrong with you,” he says.

“Back then, people would always use words like ‘tolerant’ or ‘open-minded,’ and I always hated those terms because I think they hide a defiance; there’s contempt to it. I don’t want you to tolerate me. I want you to accept me because we’re 100 percent equal.”

Perris hid his sexuality through his childhood, partly because there was so little queer representation at the time.

“I was raised in a society where you had no way of seeing the normality of a gay relationship,” he says. “It was not on TV. It was not in the media. It was not a part of any discussion.”

Perris reached a turning point in 1998, when pop icon George Michael publicly came out.

“My first experience with a public figure coming out was George Michael. I was 15 years old at the time, and to me, that was like a revelation because I had never even thought that it was possible,” Perris says.

“I didn’t know You could have a superstar who was an extremely talented and incredible artist and a beautiful man and everything and he was gay, and he was living a normal life.”