Nick Grimshaw "prayed" to be "cured" of being gay.
The 40-year-old broadcaster - who got engaged to Meshach Henry in March 2022 - attended a Catholic school as a child, and the church's teachings led to him experiencing a lot of "guilt" about his sexuality and he desperately tried to "actively be heterosexual".
Speaking on the 'How to Fail' podcast, he said: "Oh, yeah. So, basically, I grew up going to Catholic schools and so I had this guilt about being gay.
"I'd pray to be cured or [think] why me? I'd be like, I don't want to be gay.
"I'd pray for it to be taken away from me and I remember thinking, well if I try actively to be heterosexual, maybe it'll budge over a bit. Plot ruiner, it didn't."
As part of his attempts to change his sexuality, Nick desperately tried to enjoy football and poured over magazines to improve his sporting knowledge.
He said: "I remember being like if I go and get into football, I remember trying to sit and watch it and like it and copy the way my brother and dad were sat watching it.
"I remember going to get a football magazine and I thought, well, I'll just learn about this.
"I'll just learn heterosexuality from Shoot magazine. It was a really unnatural read to me because I was really trying to force it in, so it felt a bit like homework."
But the former 'X Factor' judge admitted a picture of David Beckham after a match captured his interest far more than anything else in the publication.
He continued: "I think [he was] with a cup, so he'd won something and he was playing for Man United, and I was just totally transfixed and drawn into it, and I think I was too young, or maybe I didn't even realise I fancied him, I didn't know what it was, but I just knew that I was like, wow, almost like a magic eye picture, where you're drawn in, and I remember showing it to my mum and saying, 'Can I put this on my bedroom wall?' and my Mum being like, 'Go and ask your Dad', because looking back, I think he was maybe wet, and it was black and white, and it's quite a sexy picture probably.
"I remember showing it to my dad and my dad was in the garden and I was like, 'Can I put that on my wall?' and my dad was like, 'You can but don't use Blu Tack'. So his main issue was Blu Tack.
"He wasn't like, 'Why do you want to put a semi-naked David Beckham on the wall?' He was like, you can adorn it but watch the wallpaper."
