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Ty Herndon comes out of the closet. The 52-year-old country music singer opens up about his sexuality to public in an interview with PEOPLE. "I'm an out, proud and happy gay man," he announces.

He recalls the first time he wondered about his sexuality. "I was 10, sitting in church and horrified that I might be a homosexual," he remembers. "Whatever that word meant, I knew that I probably was one. And I know there's a lot of those kids still out there. Telling my story is an opportunity to help just one of them."

"My mother probably knew I was gay before I did. I remember sitting down with her and having the conversation," he continues. "She was more concerned about me having a happy life. You have to be able to do that in your own skin, and [my family] has seen me struggle with being gay my whole career."

His realization to tell his story came five years ago. "During an Anthony Robbins seminar, I realized I had an incredible story that could possibly help someone's son or daughter or grandchild's life not be as difficult as mine has been," he explains. "Maybe they wouldn't have to go through as much pain and suffering. It's time to tell my truth."

Herndon also talks about his sexuality with Entertainment Tonight. He reveals that he's been in a happy same-sex relationship for a long time, "I have an awesome relationship that I've been in for a good number of years. [I] love him very much and he loves me."

"I've dreamed about being in country music since I was 6 years old. It's my life, it's what I do, it's who I am, and I went to great lengths to cover up that fact [of my sexuality] to be a country star," he opens up.

The singer was married twice to women. Now, he says both of his ex-wives knew that he was gay. "I had a lot of people around me that I trusted at a time and I was like, 'Hey, you know this about me but the world doesn't. So I'm gonna need to call on your services for a little while.' " he says. "It was unfortunate that I had to do that, but I felt that's what I had to do to have my career. Standing on some pretty solid legs today, so I get to tell my truth today."

"Traditionally in country music, we don't see a lot of support for the LGBT community, but that's changing so much. Nashville is changing so much. I mean my goodness...Kacey Musgraves won Song of the Year for [the lyrics] 'follow your arrow, wherever it points,' and two amazing songwriters that happened to be gay wrote that song."

"It gives me a lot of hope that Nashville is ready for this. I get to be free today. I'm born again today, and I feel like I'm not gonna have any trouble sleeping tonight," he adds.