Dame Kelly Holmes has reflected on her year after coming out, admitting she feels more ‘free’ than ever before.

The Olympic legend revealed in June that she is a gay woman at the age of 52, before opening up on fearing persecution for who she was while in the army.

Dame Kelly realised she was gay when she was a soldier in the Women’s Royal Army Corps in 1988 at the age of 17, and kissed a female comrade, but hid her sexuality, and still believed up until last year that she could be arrested.

Speaking on the last Loose Women episode of the year, the sporting icon spoke candidly about how ‘everything’ has changed for her as she heads into 2023.

‘My life has changed. Since doing my documentary, called Being Me, and announcing publicly that I was a gay woman, a few months ago, it’s changed everything about me,’ she said.

‘I feel free, I’m happy for the first time in my life. I’ve met so many people too.

Dame Kelly Holmes has been inspiring others throughout 2022 after coming out (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images)

‘Some people still don’t know, but fear is a debilitating factor of life. A lot of fear is irrational, but a lot of people have fear in their life and mine was worrying that I’d still be in trouble from the military because it was against the law to be be gay while I was serving in the military.’

Dame Kelly added that it took over three decades for her to ‘change the narrative in my head’ and ‘unravel’ the fear she had.

Now, though, she’s accepted that ‘it’s ok to be me’.

The sporting icon still feared arrest for her sexuality in 2021 (Picture: John Phillips/Getty Images)

‘It’s ok to have the conversations we have and to just talk normally. When you’re having to constantly check yourself, everything that you say and do on a day-to-day basis, because you can’t talk about a partner, you can’t talk about where you went on holiday…’

‘You probably wouldn’t have come on this show,’ co-star Kaye Adams interjected, to which Dame Kelly agreed.

‘I don’t think I would’ve even been asked, to be honest,’ she suggested.

‘I’ve become more free!’

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The athlete has been met with a wealth of love and support since sharing her coming out story, and Friday was no exception.

Plenty of Twitter users thanked Dame Kelly for ‘speaking from the heart’ on Loose Women, with one adding: ‘So pleased she is living her truth and is truly happy.’

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV.

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‘Fear is debilitating.’