X Factor star Conor McGinty wore compression vest to ITV audition to hide male breasts

Derry singer Conor McGinty has revealed he wore a compression vest to his X-Factor audition to hide his enlarged male breasts, caused by a medical condition known as gynaecomastia.

The 2016 X-Factor contestant is speaking out to raise awareness of the condition he said at one point made him want to take his own life.

Speaking to Belfast Live, he said his life has now been transformed since taking out a loan to pay for surgery to remove the breast tissue from his chest, caused in his case by a hormone imbalance.

Read more: Young Irish nurse dies following Turkish weight loss surgery

Read more: John Hume honoured in heartfelt song ‘Ireland’s Greatest’ from another proud Derry man

The popular Derry musician said: “It started when I was 13, that was the first point I realised I had it – sort of through PE at school was the main thing, in the changing rooms or playing football and someone might make a comment about it. It’s called gynaecomastia and it’s essentially female breast tissue in males. It can come from obesity, from puberty, from steroid use or in my case from a hormone imbalance.”

The 29-year-old continued: “All men have a small amount of breast tissue anyway but it can grow almost to like female breasts. It had a big impact when I was younger. I had the gynaecomastia but because of the hormone thing my areola size was bigger than a man’s as well, so I would have got called ‘pizza nipples’ and all that stuff.

“As the years went on, it really impacted me. I became really paranoid. I would have worn compression vests under everything, under T-shirts, shirts. I went to a wedding wearing two of them. In my later years I was suicidal to be honest, I didn’t see a way out of it.”

With a career in the public eye, the singer-songwriter said he had always worn compression vests on stage and during any TV appearances.

“Everybody was saying to me they never knew about it,” he said. “My wife was the first person I talked to about it. I didn’t tell the doctors. I didn’t tell my parents about it growing up. I was embarrassed by it. Obviously I do a bit of music – I done the X-Factor back in 2016 and I’ve done a bit of TV work over the years, and I’m out gigging and stuff – and when I was on X-Factor I was wearing compression vests. Any time I was at a gig, or I was on the TV, I was wearing a compression vest.

“To anybody on the outside looking at me they might have seen a confident fella on the stage, but that wasn’t the reality of it.

“It became such a thing for me because it was every day, constantly on my mind, in every situation, meeting people, social scenes, gigging. It was constantly on my mind and it led to me being diagnosed with a thing called body dysmorphia, OCD, internal anxiety disorder – all these labels were being attached.

“The suicidal episode was just last year and I ended up getting CBT and things after it. The gynaecomastia, the doctors were playing it off throughout the years as not a big deal or maybe a weight loss thing. I took that to an extreme when I was at school, and I was really, really thin. I went to the doctors about it and they sent me to the endocrine clinic, and they kept saying they weren’t really sure if it was breast tissue, but then a hormonal imbalance came through in the test. I went private, to Ballykelly, and the consultant said you have gynaecomastia grade three or grade four – it is breast tissue. I decided to get the surgery, so I hit the Credit Union for a loan and away I went.”

Conor’s surgery was carried out at the Fitzwilliam Clinic in Belfast and has now completed his recovery.

“The recovery was harder than I thought it was going to be,” he said. “It’s now healed really well.”

With a new lease of life and newfound confidence, he said he is now looking forward to “looking after himself” with exercise and healthy eating.

“Before, I was so in my head I wasn’t really looking after myself,” he said.

On the need for greater awareness around gynaecomastia, he said: “I lived for so many years with it and until about two years ago I’d never heard of it. Apparently it’s really, really common in men but because there’s a stigma attached to it men don’t talk about it. It’s awful to say it, and I’m not a doctor, but in my personal opinion I believe people have passed away because of it. I believe there are people who have taken their own lives because of it. If I had been told when I was 18 that you can get it removed, even with a waiting list, it would have been such a relief, it would give you hope.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.