The “World’s Strongest Gay” retires as a winner & he’s making our hearts melt alongside his adorable husband
Rob Kearney, affectionally known as the "World's Strongest Gay," won the car walk at his final Strongman competition.
For the last 15 years, Rob Kearney has used his incredible physical strength to lift cars, sandbags and other insanely heavy objects. But his mental fortitude has been even more impactful.
The “World’s Strongest Gay” shows LGBTQ+ people they can accomplish their dreams, all while defying stereotypes.
Kearney retired Thursday from strongman competition, closing his career with a personal best. The Massachusetts native recorded the fastest time in the car walk contest at the 2024 World’s Strongest Man event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and his rainbow beard was out in full force.
It was a special and befitting moment. Kearney is going out on top.
“Well that’s it: the end of my career. It’s still really weird to say, but really fortunate I went out on the best event of my life,” he said afterwards. “I went out with an overall win in my group, the fastest time of the competition on the car walk. I had an amazing reaction to the crowd, lots of tears, lots of emotion. It feels surreal. I don’t think it’s really sunken in yet. But as always, thank you all for so much for so much love. Thank you for the support and all of the cheering.”
Heading into the competition, Kearney, 32, said it would be his last. “I have been so fortunate to live the life I have as a Professional Strongman and honestly have achieved more in this sport than I could have ever dreamed,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Starting this sport as a 17 year old in 2009, I never imagined I would one day call my self one of the worlds strongest men. Through perseverance and consistency I worked my way to the biggest competitions in the world by the motto ‘Train to be the person they said you’d never become.’”
He gave a special shoutout to his husband, Joey Kearney, who’s been at his side the entire time.
“None of this would have been possible without your love, enthusiasm and commitment to me,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for me.”
When Rob credits Joey for being his rock, he’s not just talking about his experiences as a bodybuilder. He’s also talking about his experiences as an out gay man.
Joey was already out when they started dating, which pushed Rob to live his own truth. Already a well-known weightlifter, Rob’s announcement reverberated across the strongman world.
“Shortly after the news broke is when a friend of mine was like, ‘Hey, like, I hope you know what you just did.’ I was like, ‘I have no idea what I just did,’” he told the Myrtle Beach Sun News. “It kind of put me into the spotlight in a different way that I didn’t expect but was also excited to take on that challenge of really using my voice as a platform for LGBTQ+ visibility and underrepresented sports, like strength athletics.”
As the only out gay strongman, Kearney enjoys unapologetically open life. He and Joey shoot hilarious videos with one another, showing that love comes in all sizes.
These men are perfect together! So much so, in fact, they sometimes even wear the same outfit.
Rob’s marriage to Joey will always be synonymous with his strongman career. They tied the knot on a beach in Australia, just days after the 2019 Arnold Pro Strongman contest. Rob won the competition, and received a personal congratulations from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.
The iconic bodybuilder celebrated the couple on their wedding day.
Following the wedding, Rob was looking for more ways to highlight his gay identity. The perfect opportunity arrived later in 2019, when he was competing in the World’s Strongest Man event in Florida. With Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis taking over the state’s governor’s mansion, Rob wanted to make a statement.
Already sporting a mohawk, Rob decided to dye his hair in rainbow colors. The look was a big hit, and embodied what it means to be visible. Rob only stopped dying his hair because the bleach was starting to cause damage. But there was a simple solution to that.
Now, Rob dyes his beard!
“I really wanted to come in and again just be unapologetic in who I am and not be fearful of being able to be my full self, so I decided to show up with a rainbow mohawk,” he said about his decision to stand out in Florida.
In addition to his dyed beard, Rob rocks colored tights for competition as well. He was wearing them Thursday, and carried a car–yes, a car–for over 12 seconds.
“It’s kind of like a different layer of armor for me, where I feel like I can really be myself and give my full self to the competition while also showing some personality and having some flair,” he said.
With more than 212,000 followers on Instagram, Kearney enjoys an influential platform. He’s determined to keep inspiring.
Rob and Joey recently opened a CrossFit gym in bucolic Long Meadow, Mass., and Rob works in a high school as a certified athletic trainer as well. Outsports resurfaced a quote from Kearney when he was speaking to middle school students a few years ago, illustrating his passion for helping kids.
“The biggest thing I want you all to realize is, you know, once you aren’t afraid to actually be yourself, that’s when you actually get to experience real happiness,” he said. “For me, it’s when I got to experience real love, once I was finally able to break down all those walls and accept me for who I actually was, it completely changed my life and let me be able to talk to students like you about the things that I’ve done in this world.”
Rob has already accomplished a lot, he has his whole life ahead of him. He ends his strongman career as a winner, ready to reach even higher ground.
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