On What If People Find Out?, comedian James Barr and music executive-turned-therapist Kalvin Ryder are joined by guests from across arts and culture, to share the part of themselves that they have kept hidden... until now. Each conversation, filled with laughter and reflection, teaches us a bit about ourselves too. This is a podcast about occupying your space with zero shame and where being unapologetically you is celebrated. New episodes every Monday.
He's a singer, performer and one of the first openly gay artists in a mainstream UK boy band. This week on What If People Find Out, Kalvin Ryder is joined by his dear friend and former artist Jaymi Hensley.
As one quarter of the boy band Union J, Jaymi rose to fame on The X Factor, helping the band build a devoted fanbase, land multiple Top 10 singles and sell out arenas. But behind the hits and the stage lights was a love story that had been quietly running for years — a relationship with Olly, the man Jaymi describes simply as the greatest achievement of his life.
Together, Jaymi and Olly navigated overnight fame, financial highs and lows, a proposal in Rome, and the plans for a wedding that was just six weeks away when Olly died suddenly and unexpectedly.
In this deeply intimate conversation, Jaymi opens up about falling in love at first sight and the brutal reality of losing a partner whose death made the front pages before Jaymi had even had time to breathe. He speaks with honesty about the chaos of public grief, dealing with intrusive journalists and why he chose to hold the funeral on what was meant to be their wedding day.
It's heartbreaking, joyful and completely unfiltered — a conversation about what it means to love someone without reservation, and how you carry on when they're gone.
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