Lloyd Spencer on Opening Up About His Sexuality on Below Deck Med: "It's Liberating"
The deckhand showed his gratitude "for all the support" he has received since the emotional Season 6 moment.
In the August 9 episode of Below Deck Mediterranean, Lloyd Spencer experienced an emotional moment with the crew as he opened up about his sexuality. Katie Flood, Malia White, and David Pascoe rallied around the deckhand as he shared that he was "treated like a piece of s--t by my captain" and encountered hate speech during a past yachting job.
Lloyd opened up about the supportive moment during a recent interview with E! News. "The word inspiring comes to mind. It was unexpected but incredibly inspiring. The initial response from Katie [Flood] was just so, so, so supportive, and then to have pretty much the rest of the crew all just come over at that moment and give me that level of support," he shared. "But I think the greatest thing was when I woke up in the morning and I was exceptionally worried about it. You wake up, you're a little hungover, and you realize you said that on television and it's going to be aired, and every single one of them came up to me throughout the next day and offered their support again. Absolutely nothing changed onboard and they all continued then and they're continuing now to offer me the same level of support."
The deckhand went on to share more about the homophobia he experienced during his previous job in yachting. "I worked on a small boat where I was very, very close-knit with the people I was working with onboard, so it wasn't a case of being able to avoid that person and that person was the person in charge. It was pretty full-on from the minute I woke up to the minute I went to bed," he said. "It wasn't a very nice person, not in normal terms: wouldn't say good morning, was exceptionally rude. But when it came to comments he made about other people that we saw walking past the dock and then also comments about myself were very hard to deal with."
Lloyd also confirmed how he identifies himself after saying that he was "90 percent straight" in the latest episode of Below Deck Med. "Yeah the 90 percent straight thing was my realization that I said it on television and kind of trying to stop it from spiraling to a full confessional of my entire life, but if I were to put it in a statement of such, I completely believe in like a fluid spectrum and as any part of my life, I might move on that spectrum up or down. It just depends on the time in my life. It depends on where I am," he said. "I personally feel like everyone is on that spectrum. People may be a bit more than others and I certainly have my experiences where I've been up and down on that."
Lloyd told E! News that "it's liberating" to watch the moment back in the episode, and he has since "had nothing but support" from the Below Deck Med crew, as well as fans on social media.
The deckhand thanked everyone "for all the support" on Twitter and confirmed in another tweet that he felt "surrounded by love," as one fan put it, during the episode. "After being terrified about how this episode would be received," Lloyd also tweeted on August 10. "I just wanted to say thank you for all the kind messages."
The moment has had a profound effect on viewers and Lloyd's crewmates alike, including Malia, who had tears in her eyes while speaking about some of the intolerance that still exists in the yachting industry during an interview in the episode. Malia opened up about getting emotional in that instance during a recent interview with The Daily Dish, sharing that it was "just heartbreaking" to hear what Lloyd went through with his previous crew. "You just meet these amazing personalities, and you want them to shine," she said.
"I think that moment was really special 'cause it was like everyone just saying to Lloyd, you know, it doesn’t matter," Malia continued. "You can be exactly who you want to be, and none of us are gonna care."
During his appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on August 9, David also applauded Lloyd for sharing his truth. "Oh, bless him," he said of his fellow deckhand in the below clip. "I'm just happy that he was amongst people he could be open with, and we were there for him. That was the main thing."
Earlier that day, David tweeted about the moment, "Nothing but love for my boy [Lloyd]," who replied, "You have been nothing but incredible."
Lloyd also showed some love to Katie in a post on Instagram on August 10, thanking her "for keeping me smiling." Katie responded by praising Lloyd in the comments of his post. "I am so proud of you my boy!" she gushed. "Love you and your beautiful soul."
Want more Below Deck Med? Season 6 airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo with early access to new episodes on Peacock.
