Sam Smith was arguably the music industry's biggest breakout star of 2014, which is proven by the fact that the British singer won four major awards at this year's Grammys, but his journey to success wasn't as easy as people may assume.

Sam SMith
Smith recently opened up about being bullied as a youth

Sam first came out at only aged 11 and he quickly experienced what it was like to be picked on for being a homosexual.

"A bunch of boys from a rival school would shout insults at me as I walked from my home to the train station," he recently told The Sun. "I remember walking to the station getting 'f--t' shouted at me all the time. It was the most mortifying thing. Not so much for me. I knew these people were stupid, uneducated tw*ts."

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Unfortunately things would only get worse for Sam as the bullies soon became physical with him, and he even recalled to the newspaper one instance in which he was attacked because "it was pretty clear I was gay."

"When I moved to London I got punched in the neck walking back from work. It was definitely homophobic," he explained. "I was on the phone speaking quite loudly and had pink headphones on, so it was pretty clear I was gay."

One of the worst experiences the young star remembered was an incident that occurred in a gay night club in London, where his "whole world just crashed" after other gay men taunted him.

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"When I was 17 I decided to go gay clubbing in Soho in London. I remember walking in and this gay guy turned to his mate and said something really nasty about me," Sam said. "My whole world just crashed and I had a really lonely feeling. I knew then it was going to take a lot longer to be accepted. There's a lot of homophobia and bullying in the gay community. There's also a lot of body dysmorphia in the gay community, which means if you're not toned and skinny it can be awful."