Kim Kardashian's makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic came out on stage at an awards show
Kim Kardashian West's makeup artist and close friend Mario Dedivanovic came out as a gay man on stage last night at the American Influencer Awards in LA, alongside Kim herself.
Mario, who is famously known by his Instagram handle @makeupbymario, was up on stage with Kim as she presented him with the American Influencer Artist Achievement Award, calling him one of her "best friends". Accepting the award from Kim, Mario used the opportunity to open up to the audience about his sexuality.
He started by telling the crowd, "[I have] to be honest with you guys and tell you all something.
"A couple of days ago, on my mother’s 73rd birthday, I walked home after a day of stressful meetings at work and she was there doing my laundry and I broke down to her crying.
"I told her finally that I had spent my entire life and childhood suppressing my thoughts, suppressing my dreams, my feelings, my creativity and trying to be invisible so that no one would know how I’m feeling inside.
"I knew that I was born different. I was traumatised to be me. I had been living in fear my entire life. I had been ashamed. She said, ‘Mario, from this day forward you are never again to live in shame or fear.'"
Mario, whose family is of Albanian heritage, continued, saying, "Little boys and girls around the world are growing up with pain and fear like I did, thinking of killing themselves every single day like I did. Because they are different and they are scared to be themselves, because their culture or their family judged them."
Mario ended his speech by coming out as gay, saying, "I stand here for the first time in my life a proud 37-year-old gay man… I finally feel that bright light that I’ve been dreaming of my whole life is pouring from my soul around my body and it’s mine. I can now live the life that I deserve and right now I feel true happiness."
Mario also shared a 15-minute video on Instagram, showing the tributes from his family and friends that were broadcast before his acceptance speech. He captioned the post to his 7 million followers, "Finally free".
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