Mika Offers Advice on Coming Out

Pop star Mika has plenty of reason to celebrate. Speaking more openly about his sexual orientation than ever before, the 29-year-old musician, whose third album The Origin of Love with its exuberant lead single "Celebrate," just debuted at number 1 on iTunes in the U.S., offers advice to fans who are struggling with their sexual orientation.

"It's really important to say and to constantly repeat the fact that it's OK to feel conflicted," Mika says in a new interview with The Advocate. "It's OK to acknowledge that pressure. And it's OK to have some understanding that your fears are understandable and are actually quite normal. It's only by acknowledging that you can figure a way out of it."

The singer also acknowledges his own struggle to reveal he's gay. "It is so important to figure a way out of that because that's quite a negative state to be in," he says. "It's one that I transitioned through, but I did it on my own time. Unfortunately I had to deal with the more public side of it, in which I was grilled about it for so many years. I think it's first and foremost important to say it's OK to be conflicted and it's OK to be afraid but that's not the way it has to be. And also I will say that I truly benefited from a tolerant environment."

For more on Mika, go to MikaSounds.com.