Corey O’Brien’s Greatest Re-Creation Is Himself

“You can ask my family and I can share some baby photos. I knew, we knew, instantly. I was telling my parents I had a crush on a boy when I was 4.”

Corey O’Brien—he of the hilarious video re-creations that have caught the attention of A-listers including Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Justin Timberlake and the Spice Girls—is reminiscing about when he first knew he was gay. To visit with him now, a rising star who’ll stage his first stand-up show June 30 in LA at the Comedy Chateau, it’s hard to imagine the anxiety and depression he experienced growing up in small-town Pennsylvania, and the addiction that ensued. But those formative years are never too far in the rear-view mirror, and have made him a vocal LGBTQ+ advocate for sobriety and mental wellness.

“I actually feel like my public persona is me becoming more myself. I’ve always been so excited about making people laugh and wanting to have a good time, but with my fear and insecurities growing up as a gay man in a small town and as someone who struggled with addiction, I was diminishing who I was,” O’Brien says.

The diminishing started early.

“I think I first went to therapy when I was 9 because I was a constantly coming home from school and crying that everyone was making fun of me,” he says. “I didn’t really have a connection with the guys and I had a connection with the girls but I wasn’t a girl so I always felt alone. My parents were like, ‘Let’s go talk to someone.’ So it wasn’t that I didn’t have support from my family, it was that the voices of my peers meant more to me and I just wasn’t accepted by them.”

Soon after, O’Brien discovered his passion for dance. “I started with gymnastics and wanted to train for the junior Olympics but the boys in my school found out and were like, ‘Ohhh, he’s gay’ and I instantly quit. I would do anything in my power to just be invisible. So I was like, What else can I do that’s not so gay? And that’s when I fell in love with dancing,” he recalls. “And I fell in love with it so much that I was like, I just don’t give a shit. I love the way I’m expressing myself, and I was so competitive and I loved excelling at something that was super hard.”

By age 13 he’d found a way to gain approval from the kids at school, and began navigating the slippery slope of alcohol and drug use. “It was all about wanting to be accepted. I went from being Corey the gay kid to Corey, the kid who’s gay but he’s kindof cool. Because I was doing what they were doing, and when I was inebriated or under the influence I was able to look people in the eyes, I was able to talk and there was this false sense of confidence. Tasting alcohol for the first time was like tasting freedom… but it ended up being my prison years later.”

A stint in treatment when he was 17 offered a short reprieve before O’Brien graduated high school and his professional dance career took off. “I went on tours, I did a cruise ship, I moved to different countries and did different shows,” he says. “But that’s when I hit the ground running again with using. And that was the worst because I had worked so hard to get to where I was in my career, but I was getting fired from every single job because of my addiction. So finally at 21 I went to rehab for a year and got sober.”

These days, sobriety is a lifestyle O’Brien wears comfortably, and proudly, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “I love going to bed at 8:30, I love never being hung over, I just love loving myself now instead of loving how I was feeling under the influence,” he says.

“A lot of people in the community have used drugs and alcohol as an escape, as a way to find acceptance, as a way to deal with the years of insecurity and hate and the outside voices of people that have told us we’re wrong. We’ve tried to find ways to love ourselves and addiction can run rampant,” he says.

“Being a gay man with 11 years of sobriety, I find myself just wanting to help others who are struggling. I held it in for so long. And when I finally started being true to who I really am, that’s when I became the most successful I’ve ever been. A lot of people have reached out regarding sobriety. I’m not trying to push my life on other people, just trying to show them there are always different options.”

Therapy remains part of his self-care routine, as is sticking with his prescribed medication. “I think there should be less stigma around medication. I’ve been on medication for years because I got diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and I continue to take care of it. I don’t just pop a pill and I end up being happy. It’s the work that comes into play, and always checking in with myself,” he says.

“There are some really tough days, and I have to understand, Is my life bad, or am I having a bad day? A lot of times my thinking in the past was that my life was bad and that would just spiral. Instead of realizing, I’m in a bad situation right now—and a lot of the times it was because of my own doing. And so now, it’s holding myself accountable.”

Along the way, he found his calling as a comic. After he filmed a light-hearted impersonation last year of a video of Dua Lipa and Hilary Duff doing a dance routine—which Lipa shared—O’Brien’s socials started blowing up. “Every single video since then has been a re-creation. It feel like I have really found my thing, making people laugh, and it’s so fun to wake up and throw on a wig or throw on a costume or wrap myself up in aluminum foil and make a video.”

O’Brien will be dishing up more laughs at the Comedy Chateau on June 30. Cheekily titled Corey’s First Time, the show is a play on his inaugural standup and a rainbow of other firsts—an irreverent look back at the experiences that have brought him to this moment in time.

“Everyone, honestly, has told me I should do standup. I always thought I was funny, but maybe not funny in this way. And then it was like, if I’m second-guessing myself that means I have to go for it. I really just want to celebrate Pride Month, I want to celebrate all my friends that are coming and I want to celebrate myself, because I think that’s what life is about.”

And speaking of Pride, O’Brien has a few thoughts. “We, as humans, should be celebrated every month. I want people’s support not just in June. I want support year-round, just like I give support year-round,” he says.

“The kid who was in Pennsylvania who had dreams of love and success and peace, and never thought I would be able to achieve that… to fully embody those things today is such a blessing. This month is about giving back to those who have been in the shoes that I was once in.”

Mind Reading (formerly Hollywood & Mind) is a recurring column that lives at the intersection of entertainment and wellbeing, and features interviews with musicians, actors and other culture influencers who are elevating the conversation around mental health.