My Double Life

by Mark Foster

The colourful story of one of Britain's best loved sportsmen, and his thirty year long coming out journey.

If anyone was going to come out as gay at the height of their sporting career it should have been Mark Foster – a confident, laid-back guy who doesn't care what anyone thinks. So how is it that it took someone like him half a lifetime to come out?

From a Jack-the-lad from Southend being expelled from one of the most prestigious schools in the country to becoming the fastest man through water on the planet and a television favourite, Mark takes readers on a remarkable journey. He shares with us the sometimes serious and sometimes comic tactics that enabled him to live a double life for so long and convince himself he was happy doing so.

But Mark's experience, told with humour and honesty, makes us stop and reassess where we really are in terms of society's approach to homosexuality and diversity in sport.

Whether it's his intimate coming out conversations, posing naked photo for the Elton John Aids Foundation, glittering appearances on Strictly Come Dancing or breaking eight world records in an unprecedented 20 year career in the pool, Mark reveals the other worldliness of being an Olympian.

Inspiring and moving, A Double Life is the tale of one man's pursuit of sporting prowess and finding the freedom to live his truth.

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2026

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Reviews

[John Morris]

I have read and enjoyed a lot of sporting biographies and this is the best of those that I have read - a definite 5 ⭐️ from me

[Juliet Mike]

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

I've read all the swimming auto/biographies (all of them!) and this is right up there, at the top of my favourites list. Informative, entertaining, British (so many swimming autobiographies are American or Australian), insightful, unique, funny. Loved the chapters on the early 80s (- my age group era). So moved by the chapter on the London Olympics(tears of joy!) and the one about Mark's dad (tears of sadness) - all these tears in public, in the work cafe....

[Suzanne]

Mark Foster’s story is striking because the man who could appear completely fearless in public spent decades carefully managing what he allowed the world to know about him. My Double Life moves between the exhilaration of elite swimming and the much quieter psychological work of hiding, questioning, and eventually accepting his sexuality. Foster’s journey from a rebellious schoolboy in Southend to an Olympian who broke eight world records gives the memoir a strong sporting backbone, but it is the contrast between his public confidence and private uncertainty that gives the book its emotional weight.

The conversational tone allows serious subjects to sit naturally beside funny and occasionally outrageous memories, including his experiences on Strictly Come Dancing and posing for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Most rewarding is the honesty with which Foster revisits his own assumptions and fears. Readers interested in sport, LGBTQ history, celebrity memoir, or personal stories of identity will find a candid account of what it can mean to become publicly known while still learning how to live openly.

[Paul Wise]

A great read. Very honest and insightful