YouTuber Riyadh Khalaf is Blindsided With A Confession From His Dad
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Gay Irish YouTube star Riyadh Khalaf came out to his parents a long time ago, but it wasn't until he filmed a recent conversation with them that he learned about his dad's particularly shocking reaction to the news.
Riyadh Khalaf YouTube - youtube.com
Khalaf posted a video on Monday of a discussion he had with his mother, Lorraine, and father, Sam, about his coming out process years ago. Lorraine said that she realized her son was gay after finding a gay site on their computer history. Khalaf said his mother was very understanding, but that they both worried about how Sam, who grew up in Iraq, would react to the news.
"I grew further and further away from you, and I just felt more and more like, 'you're so annoying, get away from me,' I hated being in your company," Khalaf said to his dad. "And I didn't realize it was because I was preempting what your reaction might be and trying to protect myself, to distance myself from you emotionally."
Though Sam is very supportive of his son now, he confesses in the video that when he first learned that his son is gay, he contemplated killing himself.
Riyadh Khalaf YouTube - youtube.com
"I remember I actually got up that night, we all went to sleep, I think [it was] three or four o'clock in the morning, sitting on the deck, and I was looking for a tablet to commit suicide," Sam said before breaking down in tears. "It was so stupid, really."
Both Khalaf and his mom took a moment to comfort Sam, with Khalaf saying he's glad his father didn't take his own life because of "a few fucking dickheads with opinions" that Sam feared facing.
Khalaf revealed at the end of the video that his parents are very accepting of his life now and have even accompanied him to gay night clubs on occasion.
"Let me just tell you that if we can go from where we were to where we are now, which is just a completely different place, then you can too," Khalaf said at the end of the clip. "I've never seen a turnaround in two parents as much as these two."
