Apple CEO Tim Cook said he became the first head of a major company to come out publicly as gay in order to set an example for kids.
“I did not do it for other CEOs to come out,” Cook told CNN in an interview Wednesday. “It wasn’t even in my mind.”
{mosads} Cook said he is very proud of the decision he made, saying being gay is “God’s greatest gift to me.”
Cook made public his sexual orientation almost exactly four years ago.
“I was public because I began to receive stories from kids who read something online that I was gay,” Cook said.
He said the stories from kids who said they were bullied and ostracized pulled at his heart and compelled him to shed his previously private demeanor.
“That is a selfish thing to do at this point,” Cook said. “I need to be bigger than that. I need to do something for them.”