Being gay is "God's greatest gift to me - Apple CEO, Tim Cook

4 years ago, Tim Cook became the first CEO of a major company to come out as gay.
"I'm very proud of it," the Apple CEO told Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday in an exclusive interview for her program on CNN. Being gay is "God's greatest gift to me," he said.

Cook came out on October 30, 2014. His sexual orientation had been widely rumored beforehand though he had not confirmed it publicly. "I was public because I started to receive stories from kids who read online that I was gay," he told Amanpour.

Cook said he is a private person but ultimately decided that he was being "selfish" by keeping quiet about his identity when he could help people by coming out.

"I needed to do something for them", I wanted to demonstrate to gay children that they "can be gay and still go on and do some big jobs in life." Cook said he was shocked that he was the first out CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He said he is glad other CEOs have come out since, although that wasn't his goal.

It was a monumental moment for corporate representation, making him the first openly gay CEO on the Fortune 500 list. Cook explained that while he had kept his private life private for years, he realized that coming out could help others feel less alone and offer a blueprint for equality, famously writing:

​"The fundamental brick of a foundation has been laid: Justice does not arrive on the side of a mountain, nor does it descend in a vacuum. It is forged by ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

Do you think corporate leaders and high-profile CEOs have a social responsibility to publicly share their personal lives and identities to drive advocacy, or should executive positions remain strictly separate from personal identity and private life?

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