The world’s first professional GAY athlete to come out

Few younger bodybuilders will know the name Bob Paris. However, speak to any 40+ year old bodybuilding fan, give them the name Bob Paris and they will probably tell you one of two things: he was gay and he had the best proportion of any bodybuilder of his time. Whatever happened to Bob paris?

Bob Paris not only possessed one of THE most aesthetic bodies in the world, he was also extremely artistic with it. To look at him or take a photo from him from any angle, was to look at almost the perfect body.

Bob Paris was never huge, but he was built and he was beautiful. What a body! In fact, in 2006, one the most respected bodybuilding magazines, Flex called him “the most aesthetic body” in the entire history of bodybuilding!

Bob was an actor, bodybuilder, performer and advocate of drug testing in bodybuilding. He had huge success and was frequently on the cover or on the inside of all the major bodybuilding magazines including Ironman, Muscle & Fitness, Flex and Musclemag.

In the July 1989 issue of Ironman Magazine, Bob came out as a gay man. He was one the first professional athletes to do so. His reason, as explained to none other than Oprah Winfrey was that he fell in love and did not want to hide it. Unfortunately, coming out also meant an almost instant end to his bodybuilding career as 80% of his bookings disappeared overnight. He also received death threats.

Bob was someone who had won the IFBB World Amateur Title and Mr Universe, yet his being gay seemed to have drastically affected his bodybuilding career. Though Bob himself says he only ever saw bodybuilding as a temporary thing and enjoyed the discipline he gained from it.

Nowadays Bob is a writer, actor and activist on various issues including gay rights. Bob has been married to Brian LeFurgey from 1996 and they live on an island near Vancouver. If you want to read an amazing bodybuilding book from one of the greats, then see if you can get your hands on Beyond Built by Bob Paris - a truly spectacular book.