TV host Raymond Gutierrez, the twin brother of Kapamilya star Richard Gutierrez, confessed that some people he worked with within showbiz bullied him because of his sexuality.
Back then, he heard a lot of gossips about him and he felt he was not widely accepted.
In a Mega Magazine feature, Gutierrez admitted when he entered the showbiz, he sensed that he does not belong to the group and felt isolated.
“But then entering show business at 19 — well, I was a kid — but going back again to show business at 19 to be a TV host, that’s when it really hit me that, ‘Wow, being gay is really not accepted in a lot of these communities,’” he said.
Gutierrez admitted older people mostly bullied him and they would always talk behind his back. Little they knew, he heard all the harsh words they have been saying to him.
“Back then, being the new person on TV, I was bullied by a lot of the older people in the studios. Being gay now is not the same as being gay back then. Ten years ago, it was totally different. You feel like a mutant. You walk in backstage and people will say, ‘Ah, ‘ di ba ‘yun ‘yung baklang kapatid ni Richard?’ Like, I can literally hear them,” the TV host shared.
Gutierrez confidently shared he turned towards vices and unhealthy habits such as alcohol, partying, and unhealthy food because he had no one to turn to—and he later on became depressed and self-destructive.
“The more that people belittled me and the more that people put me in a corner kind of made me stronger. And I was like, ‘You know what, I’m gonna be the best TV host there is,’ and I tried and I won at the end,” he added.
Gutierrez started his TV hosting career in the GMA Network.
He hosted some GMA’s shows such as CLICK Barkada Hunt (2003), Stage 1: LIVE! (2003), StarStruck (2005), Pinoy Idol (2008), and Showbiz Central (2007).
