Retired Dallas Cowboys Star Jeff Rohrer Comes Out as Gay, to Marry Partner

Jeff Rohrer, a former linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, came out as gay in a New York Times storyk Wednesday and is set to marry his partner, Joshua Ross. The athlete becomes the first former or current NFL player to be in a same-sex marriage.

When speaking with the NYTimes, Rohrer, 59, opened up about his sexuality for the first time publicly.

"I'm sure there's going to be some people out there who have a negative reaction to this and I'm fine with it," he said. "If I had told the Dallas Cowboys in the 1980s that I was gay, I would have been cut immediately. It was a different world back then, people didn't want to hear that."

Born in Manhattan Beach, Calif., Rohrer played football in high school and at Yale University before being drafted by the Cowboys. He played for the team from 1982-1989. After leaving the NFL, the athlete pursued his passion for visual art and now works in media.

Rohrer told the newspaper, however, that it was playing in football that kept him in the closet.

"People are born gay, as I was, though being gay was just something that had no place during the course of my football life," he told the NYTimes. "But when I got divorced, I said the hell with it, I'm going to do what I've always wanted to do. Then I found Josh, and began to openly live the life I was born to live."

Rohrer, who has two teenage children with his ex-wife, currently lives in Los Angeles with his fianc� Ross, a celebrity aesthetician and founder of SkinLab. The NYTimes reports the duo met in May 2015 when Rohrer was still "completely in the closet."

"And if not for Josh, I'd still be there," the athlete added.

Ross said he did not know Rohrer was a former NFL player and that he was attracted to his "unselfishness."

"I guess that came from being a husband and a father, and always making sure his family came first," Ross told the NYTimes.

Rohrer said the wedding announcement will shock many people and that one guest invited to the wedding sent back the invitation, assuming it was a joke.

"I've given at least five people heart attacks with this news," he said. "But for the most part, many of my closest friends, including some of my former teammates with the Cowboys, could not have been more happy and supportive."

Former NFL Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Aiello told the NYTimes, "People who really know Jeff will be happy for him, and proud of him for living his truth."

Rohrer and Ross will tie the knot in front of 150 guests Sunday in a ceremony at Los Angeles' Wattles Mansion Gardens, according to the newspaper.