Carolyn Moos, who was previously engaged to Jason Collins, who, on Monday, became the first openly gay active professional basketball player, is opening up about how she found out the truth about her former fiance.
Carolyn, a former WNBA player, spoke to Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Wednesday’s Access Hollywood Live.
“I had no idea [he was gay],” she said of Jason.
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Carolyn said she received a voicemail from Jason before he went public earlier this week.
“He said, ‘I have something very important I need to tell you, please call me back as a soon as possible,’” she recalled. “He said, ‘This is something I’ve been discovering for a very long time and I’ve also suppressed for a very long time.”
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The former couple dated for eight years, but called off their engagement in 2009. Carolyn is still coming to grips with Jason’s announcement.
“I invested eight years in our relationship,” she told Billy and Kit. “I was in disbelief. I think that I still am.”
Carolyn explained that their time together felt genuine and they didn’t have problems being intimate during their years together.
“His twin brother didn’t know, his parents didn’t know… his teammates didn’t know and that’s his second family,” she said.
Despite their past, Carolyn is unwavering in her support of Jason now.
“He has a huge weight off his shoulders. … [Who] in our society would not allow someone to be themselves for 33 years?” she asked.
Adding, “Everyone deserves to be happy. Everyone deserves to live in their own skin. So for him to wake up on a daily basis not being able to do that, it hit me really hard. It still is. I’m still processing it.”
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