ROB HALFORD: 'I Used To Have A Massive Crush On SEAN CONNERY'

In a new interview with "The Dennis Miller Option" podcast, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford admitted to once having had a romantic infatuation with a famous actor. "I used to have a massive crush on Sean Connery as a child," Rob said, before correcting himself: "I wasn't a child; I was a teenager. I had a little cropped out color photograph of his hairy chest. And I used to pleasure myself looking at this picture of Sean Connery when I was in my early teens. [Laughs]"

Rob is continuing to promote his recently released autobiography, "Confess". In the book, Halford discusses in detail what it was like becoming the first metal icon to announce he is gay in 1998 during an MTV interview, despite knowing about his sexuality since he was 10. Although his bandmates and their management knew he was gay and were accepting, he was advised to be discreet given the macho hetero nature of the metal world. He also opens up about surviving sexual abuse, as well as his struggles with depression, substance abuse, sobriety, and the suicide of one of his former partners. He also talks about how his own suicide attempt in 1986 led him to the rehab program that saved his life.

"Confess" arrived on September 29 via Hachette Books. It was written with Ian Gittins, co-writer of "The Heroin Diaries" by Nikki Sixx.

Halford, who has been an outspoken advocate for gay rights, addressed the controversial issue of choice in sexuality during a recent interview with KNAC.COM. Asked what he has to say to people that say that being gay is a choice and not something that you are born with, Halford said: "Absolutely rubbish. You are born with it. Different people like me get murdered in front of buildings. Why would I choose to be that kind of a person? It's ridiculous.

"It's great to be gay," he continued. "It's wonderful to be gay because there are so many conflicting views about this particular thing that we have today. But I can say categorically that it's not a choice. It's a fact. It's in your DNA. It's something that you're born and blessed with, and I'll say God made me this way. Thank you."

A recent poll showed that a quarter of Americans identify as something other than straight. In the U.K., meanwhile, one in five young people identify as somewhere between straight and gay.

In "Confess", Halford revealed that he knew he was gay during a time when gay men were "full-on persecuted" in his native United Kingdom. He came out to his parents three years later.

"God made me this way," he told People. "This was placed inside of me. This is who I am."