Kevin Wilshaw, a prominent European Neo-Nazi has renounced all of his previous world views, coming out of the closet as a gay man, and revealing that his mother was part Jewish, The Independent reported Wednesday, October 19.

Wilshaw was a high-profile figure of the National Front in the 1980s and was speaking at extreme right events as recently as this year.

“On one or two occasions in the recent past I’ve actually been the recipient of the very hatred of the people I want to belong to … if you’re gay it is acceptable in society but with these group of people it’s not acceptable, and I found on one or two occasions when I was suspected of being gay I was subjected to abuse,” Wilshaw explains.

“It’s a terribly selfish thing to say but it’s true, I saw people being abused, shouted at, spat at in the street – it’s not until it’s directed at you that you suddenly realise that what you’re doing is wrong.”

He also revealed his mother was part Jewish, and her maiden name was Benjamin.

He added that he felt “appallingly guilty” about his past, but also that he would find it difficult to fill the “void” of far-right activity that has shaped his life.

Wilshaw is not the first neo-Nazi to turn against his past.

Michael Kent from Colorado spent two decades in a violent white supremacist group. After his black, female parole officer influenced him to change his way of life, he had his far-right tattoos removed via Redemption Ink, a national non-profit that offers free removals of hate-related tattoos.