Coming Out Helped Adam Rippon Pose Nude

What did it take for America's skating sweetheart Adam Rippon to undress for the annual ESPN The Magazine Body Issue? Coming out, he says.

"I couldn't have done this [shoot] while I was in the closet," Rippon told the magazine. "I think that, with my experience of coming out, I felt so liberated in so many ways."

Rippon came out publically in 2015 and his refusal to meet with antigay vice president Mike Pence at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea made him an LGBT icon (his bronze medal didn't hurt either).

"I came here being authentically myself and sharing my story and being gay is part of that, but I came here as an American athlete," Rippon said when he became the first openly gay American athlete to win a medal.

Rippon continued to stay true to his identity as he showed off his toned body during the shoot.

"I don't want to say I'll never be in this shape again, but I'll never be in this shape. I'll be in another shape," he said. "This is a milestone of all the work it took me to get to the point to be an Olympic medal-winning figure skater."

He also went to advocate for figuring skating, noting how the immense amount of strength skaters need to compete is often overlooked.

"I don't think figure skaters get the credit we deserve, but at the same time, that's our job ... the whole point is that it looks really easy," he noted.