Is Tom Daley a victim of the vile trolls that inhabit our internet, often 'outing' the sexual preferences of well-known people who crave some sort of normality in their private lives?
Or could it be claimed he has no right to a private life when he has spoken so openly about his family from a very young age?
My view is it is neither.
Earlier this year Daley gave an interview to The Mirror newspaper and was asked about his sexuality and the constant rumours on the internet that he is gay.
He lied. Who can blame him? If he doesn't want to discuss the intimate details of his sexuality I would argue that it is nobody's business.
The difficulty comes when you step out of your core existence, in his case as a sportsman with a very high profile. He left the confines of the swimming pool to become a TV personality and accept commercial endorsements. In order to do that he has spoken about his family and used his back story to paint a particular picture of himself.
When personalities do that it becomes almost impossible in the era of the internet to decide what you want made public and what you don't. If a reporter asks you the question: Are you gay? If you answer: "No comment", everyone will assume the obvious.
Tom Daley is clearly a decent bloke. I suspect he has come out on YouTube because he had a crisis of conscience - he did not like lying to the reporter, however crass the question had been.
I suspect he also felt it was an affront to his partner that he was denying his very existence. You can only applaud his courage and hope that others follow suit. The more people who are not afraid to reveal their sexuality when asked, the less power these homophobic sick individuals on the internet have.
It is tragic that Daley had been forced to come out. But anyone setting out on the road to a life in the spotlight must think twice. Once you swap your particular talent, be it singing, competing at sport or acting for a life as a "personality" then the reality is all bets are off. Your life is public property and with so many people with access to broadcast through social networking, it is impossible to plug the gap once the dam has burst.