--- title: Gus Kenworthy's Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on Olympics Kiss description: Matthew Wilkas, Gus Kenworthy's boyfriend, speaks about the meaning of the kiss they shared on TV at the 2018 Winter Olympics canonical: https://time.com/5164773/gus-kenworthy-boyfriend-matthew-wilkas-olympics-kiss/ author: Sean Gregory article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-18T04:37:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:59:09.583Z article:section: Sports og:title: Gus Kenworthy's Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on the Meaning of Their Historic Olympics Kiss og:description: "It would be a huge moment for a young gay kid to see an awesome athlete so open and proud of himself" og:url: https://time.com/5164773/gus-kenworthy-boyfriend-matthew-wilkas-olympics-kiss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt548789a4abba2ba8/6989281f86f68ecfc36e8576/ken-gusworthy-olympics-matt-wilkas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4744 og:image:height: 2669 og:image:alt: Freestyle Skiing - Winter Olympics Day 9 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gus Kenworthy's Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on the Meaning of Their Historic Olympics Kiss twitter:description: "It would be a huge moment for a young gay kid to see an awesome athlete so open and proud of himself" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt548789a4abba2ba8/6989281f86f68ecfc36e8576/ken-gusworthy-olympics-matt-wilkas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gus Kenworthy's Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on the Meaning of Their Historic Olympics Kiss > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Gus Kenworthy Is The First Openly Gay Winter Olympian [Watch (HLS stream): Gus Kenworthy Is The First Openly Gay Winter Olympian](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FsbJtgRH.m3u8) (4:13)  _Published 2017-12-15. Gus Kenworthy heads to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, thrilled to represent the LGBT community as the first openly gay Winter Olympic athlete._  by [Sean Gregory/PyeongChang](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory/PyeongChang Senior Correspondent Feb 18, 2018 4:37 AM UTC  by [Sean Gregory/PyeongChang](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory/PyeongChang Senior Correspondent Feb 18, 2018 4:37 AM UTC When Matthew Wilkas, the boyfriend of [American slopestyle skier Gus Kenworthy](http://time.com/5066113/gus-kenworthy-ready-to-embrace-role-2018-winter-olympics/), saw on Twitter a sceenshot of he and Kenworthy [sharing a kiss before Kenworthy’s qualifying run](http://time.com/5164759/gus-kenworthy-matthew-wilkas-olympics-kiss/) on Sunday at the [2018 Winter Olympic Games](http://time.com/winter-olympics-2018-photos/) in South Korea, he didn’t think the moment was a very big deal. “That was like a peck,” Wilkas tells TIME with a laugh from the bottom of the slopestyle course at the Phoenix Snow Park. “We should have made out in front of people.” But taking a moment to think about it, Wilkas realized that yes, he was probably part of something historic: a kiss between a gay athlete and his boyfriend at a mass audience spectacle like the Olympics, shown during network primetime television. “It’s unusual, right?” says Wilkas, an actor. “It’s good that it’s televised because it normalizes it more. I would imagine it would be a huge moment for a young gay kid to see an awesome athlete so open and proud of himself and not caring what anyone thinks of his sexuality.” Kenworthy has come under increased scrutiny over the past week of because of [his public criticisms of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence](http://time.com/5161908/gus-kenworthy-broken-thumb-mike-pence/). “Broke my thumb yesterday in practice,” he wrote on Instagram this week. “It won’t stop me from competing (obvi) but it does prevent me from shaking Pence’s hand so… Silver linings!” Wilkas says dealing with the pressure has been difficult for his boyfriend. “He’s definitely been stressing out a lot,” says Wilkas. “It’s hard. He wants to be the voice, one of the heroes for his community alongside [Adam \[Rippon\]](http://time.com/5158065/adam-rippon-olympics-figure-skating-star/). But I think it just adds a lot of pressure to the moment. There are people on both sides. The gay community looks up to him, then the people who hate him for being who he is and can’t wait to see him fail. There’s a sense of wanting to prove them wrong.” “He’s said things about Mike Pence and the White House that provokes people that are easily provoked, that are so open about their hate,” says Wilkas. “People are saying, ‘I hope you break a leg.’ Literally, things like that.” As he prepared to watch Kenworthy in the finals, Wilkas understood he was part of something bigger than a sporting event. “Does it hit me?” he says. “I guess it does. I just want him to be happy. But I get it. I see that it’s important.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] When I was 14, one of my best friends we were sitting on the back of a snow cat getting towed up the mountain. And he ended up slipping over the side and got caught in the tracks and was run over. And it was so horrible, [ MUSIC ] And I remember wishing that it happened to me because if I had died, everyone would have remembered me in the same way that he was getting remembered. And I felt like if it happened to me, then everyone would have remembered me in this amazing way and No one would have ever had to find out that I was gay. I always felt when I was younger that I had this deficit because I was gay and if anybody found out it was going to be such a negative thing and have negative repercussions and so I had to make up for it in every other way. So I pushed myself really hard in school and I pushed myself in sports and tried to kind of Almost build myself up in all these other areas so that it could compensate for this other thing that was, what I thought was wrong with me at the time. [ SOUND ] Triple from Kenworthy. He wants it. [ APPLAUSE ] The last Olympics, it was like One of the most euphoric moments of my entire life. Getting silver medal was like everything for me. And everything that happened with the media around that and everything else put me on a place where I suddenly realize that I don't want these two separate lives. I don't wanna be living a lie and feeling guilty about who I am. And I had it on my mind that I wanted to Come out as number one in the world, because I felt like no one can talk **** when you're the best. And I flew from Aspen to Mammoth from the Grand Prix and I won. And then I flew to LA for the Air and Style in Pasadena, and I won. And then I flew to Park City for the Grand Prix, and I won. Sure enough, I was ranked number one again and things just kinda lined up for me. I got a call from someone in my industry. This was someone that I looked up to a lot and he wold be like where's your boyfriend, you ****. And like all these different things and like why you late for practice, you sucking his ****? And like things that were so inappropriate and like really hurt me and then the day that I came out he called me and he was like choked up, almost in tears and was like I just want to say I'm so sorry because Of the things that I said and I never really actually thought that that was the case, and if I ever had I would have never said those things. But look I'm so sorry if I made it harder for you, or anything. And that phone call from this person, the last person I would have ever expected to, really made me feel like my god this is gonna be a much better experience than I thought it was gonna be. The happiest I've ever been, the best I've ever felt, any of those things have all been like. I wasn't in the right head space, and I think that so much of competing is mental. And I think that me coming out put me in the right head space. Going into Korea now, I feel a lot more pressure actually than I did going into Sochi, but it's all for good things. For good reasons. Like, the thought of being the first openly gay male ever to compete in the Winter Olympics is, it's **** cool. I still have a lot to prove but it's not even so much to myself now. It's kind of like to everybody else I feel in a way. It's this other demographic that's watching me. It's the LGBT community. I'm like so badly I want to inspire that community. Community and do well for them. And I would love to win a gold medal and have that for my country and for my community and just be able to have that. That, for me, is a pressure that I would want. 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