Shepard Smith opened up about his sexuality during a speech at the University of Mississippi, confirming that he is in fact in a relationship with another man and that being gay has not had any negative impact on his job at Fox News.

'I don’t think about it. It’s not a thing,' said Smith according to The Clarion-Ledger.

'I go to work. I manage a lot of people. I cover the news. I deal with holy hell around me. I go home to the man I’m in love with.'

He also spoke about the October interview with Huffington Post in which he publicly reveled that he was a gay man.

'Someone asked me if [former Fox News CEO] Roger Ailes had been abusive to me, and I said, "No. He was always good to me,’ and that was the truth,"' said Smith.

'And when I told the truth, I guess it was considered that I outed myself. I didn’t even think about it, because I didn’t think I was in.'

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Out: Shepard Smith (above in 2014) spoke openly about being a gay man during a speech at the University of Mississippi

Loved up: He also revealed that he had a boyfriend, saying: 'I go home to the man I’m in love with'

Smith also revealed his initial fears about coming out as gay.

'A. You’re going to hell for it. B. You’ll never have any friends again. C. What are you going to tell your family? And by the way, you’re on television on the craziest conservative network on Earth,' said Smith.

'That will probably put you in front of a brick wall. Of course none of that was true, but that’s how it felt.'

He said that instead of focusing on his sexuality he instead threw himself into his work.

'Nobody was going to outwork me, and no one did,' said Smith.

'My bosses were really so astounded. They were like, "How can you do this?"'

He later added: 'At one point, they were like,"You have to sleep. You can’t continue to stay up."'

Smith, 53, said that he even missed his sister's wedding to attend the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

He confirmed the long-circulating rumor in October when he was asked if it was former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes who prevented him from coming out of the closet.

'That's not true. He was as nice as he could be to me. I loved him like a father,' Smith said of Ailes.

The 'love' Smith had for his old boss is why it was so difficult for him to deal with the network's sexual harassment scandal this past summer.

'I trusted him with my career and with - I trusted him and trusts were betrayed,' Smith said of Ailes.

'People outside this company can't know [how painful that betrayal was]. This place has its enemies, but inside, it was very personal, and very scarring and horrifying.'

It was Gawker that reported back in 2014 that Smith wanted to publicly come out but was told he could not after speaking with Ailes.

'This came up during contract negotiations,' a Fox insider told the website.

'Shep wanted to and was ready to come out, and Roger just said 'no.''

That was not the case at all though according to Smith, who also shot down past reports which claimed that Ailes had made homophobic comments and remarks in his presence.

'He treated me with respect, just respect,' said Smith of Ailes.

'I wasn't new in the business when I came here - I'd been doing reporting for 12 years - but I wasn't old in it either, and he gave me every opportunity in the world and he never asked anything of me but that we get it right, try to get it right every day.'

Smith then added: 'It was a very warm and loving and comfortable place.'

Ailes and Smith also released a joint statement after Gawker published their story two years ago, stating: 'As colleagues and close friends at Fox News for 18 years, our relationship has always been rooted in a mutual respect, deep admiration, loyalty, trust, and full support both professionally and personally.'

That changed for Smith however when Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit last July accusing Ailes of sexual harassment.

Busy bee: Smith said that he worked so much he did not have time to think about his sexuality earlier in his career (above with Roger Ailes)

'This was a real shock to the system, and it upended a lot of things that we thought we knew. We were wounded and horrified and very emotional, and we realize that as leaders we need to come in and face up to what we've learned,' said Smith.

'We have to make sure there aren't young victims wandering around here who need us. We have to get appropriate counselors in here.

'We have to make sure legally everybody's protected and have to make a commitment to be the most transparent, open and welcoming organization of our kind in the world, and I'm determined to be a part of the team that makes it happen.'

He reported on Carlson's lawsuit after it was filed, one of the few people at the network to address the scandal, while also giving Ailes' response at the time.

In addition to his duties as host of Shepard Smith Reporting, which airs weekdays at 3pm, Smith is also the managing editor of the network's breaking news division.

Smith said that after the scandal broke over the summer he sat down with Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch to talk about the future of the network, and liked what he heard from the Australian billionaire.

'He said, "I'm a newsman. I want to be the best news organization in America,''' Smith said of his conversation with Murdoch.

'He wants to hire a lot more journalists, he wants to build us a massive new newsroom, he wants to make more commitments to places like this [studio], to hire reporters to work on beats, just enlarge our news-gathering.'

Smith, who left University of Mississippi two credits shy of a degree to take his first job, also spoke about how he got his start on Fox News.

He said that Ailes saw him reporting on the OJ Simpson trial for Fox affiliates and then called him asking if he would fly to New York City to talk more about the possible new position.

Soon after, Smith moved to New York City and began his career at the network.