I love the Olympic Games. The Olympics are an event that few can fathom but all can enjoy, and that's why athletes work our whole lives to put on the greatest show on Earth.
It's of very little importance to me that I was born gay. It doesn't make me a better athlete, it doesn't make me a stronger person, it doesn't really do anything to enhance my life. It's just something I was born with, the same as green eyes.
Nothing shocks me anymore. I've embraced men in thongs, I've embraced women with padded bras. I mean, I can embrace Larry King saying 'fierce.'
Anytime you get men in glitter, it's a flamboyant occasion!
When you have an audience standing and screaming the entire way through the short program and cheering every element you do, whether it's footwork, or spin, or a jump, to have that kind of emotion coming at you from every direction in the building, it's the most amazing sensation you can get as a sportsman.
I'm going to be a happy housewife. I'm going to be washing boxers and cooking and doing all those sorts of housewife duties. I just want to be happy and proud of every single day.
My family, the support of my friends, the amount of people that have written and come up to me on the street and said, 'Thank you for representing us,' and Adam Lambert, and Lady Gaga, that's been amazing.
Figure skating is theatrical. It's artistic. It's elegant. It's extremely athletic. And there's a very specific audience for that.
It's really grinding to always play out of both sides of your mind and always be thinking what will offend people. Or what won't. But I'm strong enough to deal with that. I own that I'm freakish in my way.
I want to create things while I have time on Earth, and the art of costume and culture has always inspired me.
Creating emotion was what my career was all about. I wanted people to laugh at me; I wanted people to cry with me. I wanted people to feel good or to think about something when they watched me. I think that's why, even not being an Olympic champion, I have such a huge following around the world.
I am an American man, and in America, we still think of figure skaters as little girls in pretty, sparkly dresses - I worked very hard to change the perception and image of figure skating, and I think I've done a great job on my end, but in figure skating, taste needs to evolve.
Figure skating is theatrical, and a part of it is wearing costumes. My costumes were very over-the-top and outrageous for figure skating. But for me, it's all beautiful. Even when nobody else believed they were beautiful, I felt beautiful in them.
I'm a huge fur fan; it's no secret to anyone anymore.
I'm going to skate exactly the way I want to, create programs that I like, and everything will fall into place where it is supposed to.
Being in the public eye is part of what I do, and taking on a multitude of different projects - television, radio, fashion, writing or deep-sea diving - is a blessing. It is also how I pay my bills and fund my own skating, as I don't have a sponsor or financial help from my federation.
I don't eat as much as an athlete should. I just don't like it.
I definitely feel like I'm more of an artist than an athlete. But I'm good at both.
Don't bring a prop. It's almost like they were afraid nobody would know who they are.
I'm hoping my presence alone in Russia will be a show of strength for the Russian LGBT community.
I’ve held onto Ugg boots. I will never graduate to Crocs, but Ugg boots are always and forever. That’s my fashion stepchild.
I don't want to spend my life on an ice cube.
That makes me think of spandex-covered football players. It's not me. I'm in rhinestones and velvet, not spandex.
I wouldn't participate in 'Stars on Ice' if I were asked. I find it an amateurish tour in a way, the production quality.
I think it is important for young people to see other young people on television doing something positive with their life, making positive changes and growing. I don't think there is enough of that on TV. I mean, we've got 'Jersey Shore,' and I don't know what that teaches young kids.
