From being bullied to successful podcasting and acting – Scott McGlynn tells his story

Scott McGlynn is a podcaster who has used his often-difficult time growing up in Barry, South Wales, turning a negative experience into a successful career and a way to help others.

Born in 1987, Scott was bullied while in school and the experience led him to start a lifestyle and fashion blog to share his experiences.

Featuring product reviews, opinion pieces and celebrity interviews, the blog paved the way for Scott’s autobiography, Out, which chronicled his struggles coming out, being bullied over his sexuality, and finding love. Following the release of Out, Scott gave several talks and became an active LGBTQ+ campaigner, nominated for the 2016 Pride Power List.

In 2017, Scott created his eponymous show, a podcast combining celebrity interviews and real-life stories of people from the LGBTQ+ community. The podcast was very successful, reaching the top 5 on the UK iTunes podcast chart.

“Back in 2015 I came out with my kind of bullying from the late 90s and 2000s in school,” Scott explained about starting his blog, “I tried to use my story to help others who may be going through a similar thing or suffering any bullying in general.”

Although short lived, response the blog was great and Scott met some incredible people, but felt he wanted to create something which was more fun and light-hearted while keeping a serious point of view. This is how his podcast The Scott McGlynn Show came about.

Scott wanted to get across his story of being talked down to so many times at school for about five years of his life, he says: “I literally felt like I was nothing and something was wrong with me, I wanted to put myself out there and tell people to not let these bullies put you down. Everyone is incredible and unique, so you can make anything you want out of life, and I hope that is what I was sharing.

“When I was in school, I never spoke up, I mumbled so much, I was not confident at all and it affected my mental health, but in my early twenties I came out of my shell and started to speak up more,” he adds.

Although quickly growing in the US, podcasting hadn’t really taken off in a big way in the UK when Scott started his in 2017. He’s a big fan of the Anna Faris is Unqualified Podcast and wanted to do something similar, but with his own kind of spin on it.

The idea was to feature celebrity guests on topics such as coming out and how it had affected their careers, or those who lacked confidence but really wanted to get into acting or the music business.

Finding guests wasn’t too difficult because Scott knew who he wanted on his show and set about contacting them or their publicists and agents. “Everyone agreed to come on and that shook me in a way because I had no physical content or episodes to present to them so they could hear what is was about,” Scott says, “I had good content ideas, they wanted to share, and I think it was perfect timing.”

Among the guests appearing on the podcast are Perez Hilton, Craig Kelly, Johann Hari and Ashley James. Scott has also featured many writers, directors and film makers who are not so well known, but he thinks their work is incredible, so he wants to give them a platform to have their say.

When asked about listening numbers, Scott is very clear, he says: “I created it because I wanted to, I wasn’t getting into it because I wanted to create big numbers or be more famous, I just wanted to create something different – something light-hearted that has a good meaning behind it.”

The real-life stories from the LGBTQ+ community play an important part of the podcast with interviews from the likes of actor David Yost, whose story Scott says, is very empowering, also people from Mean Girls and Hollywood. He says: “It’s all about how they share their stories, it sometimes shocks me.

“Coming out stories, it’s crazy – every single one is different, and I’m still surprised after so many episodes how every one of them is different, but that’s why it’s so unique.”

Although he’s now hosting his own channel on Instagram TV, Scott is adamant his podcast will remain his number one priority because he’s learnt so much from doing it and has made many connections and friends from it.

Last year he launched a new series on IGTV, Celebrity Skin Talks. Scott himself had suffered with acne as a teenager and the series combines two of his passions – skincare and celebrity. In a frank series of interviews, he has spoken to Tamzin Outhwaite, Michelle Collins, Mary Fitzgerald, Amanza Smith, Natalia Tena, Suzanna Shaw and Lucy Spraggan.

Scott is also known for sharing skin tips/tutorials, fashion and lifestyle content via his official Instagram account and has collaborated with brands including NowTV, SkinCeuticals, Dermalogica, Vichy, Huawei, Elemis, IT Cosmetics, ASOS, Bobbi Brown, Coca-Cola and boohooMAN.

Cosmetics companies are keen to be featured, but Scott says he won’t do all of them. They need to be relatable and important to him and will only be featured if he likes them after he’s tried them. 

Scott explains: “I used to wear make-up to hide my insecurities and still suffer from breakouts and redness to this day, but I am so much more comfortable in my own skin. I wanted to help other people and that is why I started being “me”… and began giving honest product reviews and being more open about things.”

The latest venture for Scott is acting – he’s already had parts in Sex Education and Casualty and has had some one-to-one acting lessons. The confidence to do this has come from his podcasting and IGTV experience. He says: “I’ve done this for around seven or eight years, so it comes naturally in a way.”

He’s recently been working with an actor/director on a project, and they have been filming together, but he says he can’t say too much about it.

Acting might be Scott’s next thing, but he’s hugely aware of where he’s come from and how he’s got to be where he is. As far as the podcast is concerned, he says no matter what he does, it will always be active because it was his “first child” and is definitely not going anywhere – it’s his number one.

He says he has goals and knows what he wants to achieve and will keep going until he does it. “I’m a fighter,” he says, “so I’ll make sure, like with this acting, it’s definitely going to be a big thing.

“I’ve built myself up from nothing and I’ve been consistent – and if you’re consistent, if you’ve got drive and passion you can do anything!”