OK Magazine
Now that Olympian Gus Kenworthy is officially retired, he has a lot of time on his hands, meaning he's working on a bunch of projects.
“I have more control of my schedule which is a learned skill. I'm not good at scheduling my days, but I'm trying to write a book. I'm so bad, though, because I put writing to the side and will do basically anything else. I've also been in a few different acting classes and workshops. I've been auditioning, and I am pursuing acting and trying to write whenever I have time,” the 31-year-old, who retired from freestyle skiing at Beijing 2022, exclusively tells OK! while talking about starring in Amazon Essentials‘ new Fall / Winter 2022 campaign in which he self-directed.
Kenworthy's book will be a memoir but “less formal,” he shares. “It's all true stories from my childhood and growing up. It kind of lends itself to the theme of coming out and my coming out journey. It's told through a collection of personal essays, so some of them are a little more somber. There's definitely some heartbreaking ones, but a lot of them are meant to be funny.”
“My dad said the hardest part about writing is cleaning out the fridge, which is very true,” he adds. “I'll find any chore to do. It's been cathartic, and I definitely have talked about certain things. There are some essays I haven't written yet that I know I have to write. I've been talking to people like, ‘How do I even approach this? How do I do this?' There are things that are traumatic from my childhood that I haven't talked about.”
The athlete has dabbled in the TV world before, as he appeared in Colton Underwood‘s Netflix show, Coming Out Colton, in addition to starring in FOX's Special Forces: The Ultimate Test, which put 16 celebrities through rigorous military-style training.
“It was fun, but I want to be doing real acting stuff,” he notes. “The classes I am taking are more traditional acting classes. I've been auditioning for regular roles and sitcoms. Growing up my dream — other than skiing — was to be the lead of a rom-com. I think that is still what I would love to do, in addition to comedy.”
“My focus is on acting, and I would be excited to be back on set,” he gushes. “It would be fun to be a series regular on a comedy and get to have time to develop a character and grow with castmates. That's definitely my goal.”
Since the skier is trying different things, he may even be interested in the fashion world — especially after working with Amazon Essentials on their Fall / Winter 2022 campaign, which also stars two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Chloe Kim, family and lifestyle influencer Alyssa Fluellen and health and fitness influencer Cleopatra Lee.
WATCH: GUS KENWORTHY DISHES ON MEETING CELEBRITY CRUSH SHAWN MENDES: ‘HE HAD HIS SHIRT OFF'
“What I love about Amazon is that I use it in my every day life, and there's such an ease to it,” he shares. “You can order whatever you need from home, it arrives quickly and it's easy to return. Everything is so seamless. This campaign was very much the same way. I was kind of in charge of my own creative vision and own styling. I got to pick out a bunch of different stuff from their Essentials line. I organized my own shoot at home and got to have total control over it. It was really fun and felt authentic to my experiences with Amazon.”
He adds, “I picked out things that looked exactly like things that are already in my closet or things that I would want. There were a couple of photos that looked like a studio shot and the rest was me on the deck with my dogs wearing a rugby sweater. It felt very natural.”
Kenworthy also notes that Amazon Essentials is perfect for anyone's wardrobe, as they have “simple things that go with everything.”
“It makes it super easy to pull together a cohesive look that is indicative of who you are and what you want to put out there,” he concludes.
