Gay Soccer Star Jake Daniels, 18, Shares About His Partner, 46

Daniels's Partner Slide Into His DMs

British soccer star Jake Daniels recently opened up about meeting his partner after the pro athlete came out last year.

Daniels, 18, came out when he was seventeen, becoming the first to do so in the U.K. since the 1990s.

"Off the pitch I've been hiding the real me and who I really am," the player said in a statement on Blackpool's website last year. "I've known my whole life that I'm gay, and I now feel that I'm ready to come out and be myself."

He explained that he was inspired by other gay athletes like Australian pro soccer player Josh Cavallo and Olympic diver Tom Daley.

"I've hated lying my whole life and feeling the need to change to fit in. I want to be a role model myself by doing this," Daniels said. "There are people out there in the same space as me that may not feel comfortable revealing their sexuality. I just want to tell them that you don't have to change who you are, or how you should be, just to fit in."

In a recent interview with the BBC Radio 4 podcast How to Be a Man, Daniels shared that his partner, 46, actually slide into his DMs after he came out, congratulating him on doing so.

“I came out and had my Instagram, my Twitter taken off me, so I didn’t see anything,” Daniels said, according to British media sites.

He explained that when he did get his social media back, he had tens of thousands of messages.

“There was one day, I was about to get on a train and I went on my message requests just to have a gander and the top message was from my partner, just congratulating me,” Daniels said. “I had a sneaky look on his Instagram and I was like, ‘Alright!’ Dropped a message back and said ‘Thank you so much,’ At the end, [I] asked something like ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’ I knew what my motive was!'

They met up a few days later and have been dating since.

As PinkNews notes, he’s previously spoken about his relationship.

In an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times, Daniels said that he’s attracted to older men.

“For me, 30 is too young,” he said. “Over 40 is better.”

Social media users congratulated Daniels on the relationships while others pointed out the almost thirty-year age difference.

The footballer shared, “I wanted a relationship and stability – and I’ve got that now.”