Same Love star Mary Lambert credits gay mother for strength

Same Love singer Mary Lambert credits her lesbian mother with giving her the strength to battle homophobia, revealing she still remembers how the family was ostracised when her mom 'came out'.

The Grammy award nominee, who wrote and sings the chorus of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 2013 gay anthem, learned from an early age how cruel some people could be and it gave her the strength to always be true to herself.

The gay star, who is dating fellow singer Michelle Chamuel, tells Access Hollywood Live, "I was raised Pentecostal in the church and when my mom came out, we were ostracised. It was really difficult to see an entire community of people turn their backs on you for who you are.

"That taught me at a young age to never apologize for who you are."

But Lambert reveals she had to go through years of self-destruction after she was raped on an army base at 17 before she found happiness.

She adds, "When people are abused, women especially, they have this urge to internalise it and think, 'Well, what did I do wrong...' We forget that there's someone that did something really awful to us."

The singer reveals a love for poetry finally brought her out of the darkness after years of self-medicating and depression.

She explains, "There's a program called YouSpeakSeattle... that really gave me a community of people that cared about their craft and were just beautiful individuals.

"That was where I could say, 'In this art form I can say exactly how I feel'... I have so many feelings, so it's really important for me to, like, channel that... or I'll explode."