A sweet Southern soul living it up in the Red Centre, meet Brad Hayden-Mayberry
BRAD Hayden-Mayberry has a heart bigger than Texas, and a beautiful soul crafted in the South … READ HIS STORY HERE
Alice Springs
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BRAD Hayden-Mayberry has a heart bigger than Texas, and a beautiful soul crafted in the South by parents who showed their son the way.
Brad’s magnificent spirit saw him make it on to the mega TV show, American Idol. That spirit also attracted Hans, the man of Brad’s dreams.
Brad and Hans have now forged a home in the Australian outback, and our community is greater for having them here.
Brad was born at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A couple years later he and mother Melba, dad Don and older brother Adam moved to Orange Park, just outside Jacksonville, Florida.
“We are super Southern,” Brad said.
“Like Southern Belle, so it’s all ‘Oh bless your heart’ and ‘fiddle sticks’!
“They were great parents and it was a great upbringing – very sweet and loving.
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“Dad was a fighter pilot in the military for 30-odd years. He was always a hard worker and supported the family. That’s where I get my work ethic from. Mom was mainly a stay-at-home Mom, she is where I get my kindness from.
“My brother Adam lives in Chicago. He’s a mortgage broker. He’s there with his wife Paulina, who’s from Poland. She’s lovely. They fell head over heels in love.”
Up until junior high, Brad says school was a pleasant place to be. Then it all changed.
“When you’re younger and you have flamboyance, well it’s OK, because you’re just a child,” he said.
“Then when you’re getting older and you’re still effeminate and your voice is still high – that’s when the bullying started.”
The torment at school grew so destructive that Brad made the courageous call to leave that school, and complete his senior year doing night classes.
“I have no regrets. It gave me a thick skin. It’s why I’m very anti-bullying, because I would never wish that upon anyone,” he said.
“It moulds you in to the person you are today. That’s why I always try so hard to be kind to people. I do wish those kids could have been a little nicer, because kids can be mean.”
Brad says a lot of those bullies have since reached out to him via social media to apologise.
“It’s a breath of fresh air when they reach out. I can take them off my hit list! They called just in time,” Brad said with a laugh.
Brad had sound advice for people struggling with bullying.
“In the LGBTQ+ community the message they have is ‘It gets better’,” he said.
“Be strong, brush it off, have courage, and be kind, hold your head high, embrace what is special about you.
“It’s actually a lot harder to be mean and rude. It’s so much easier to be nice and kind. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t try it!
“My Mom always says whenever you wake up and get out of bed, go and smile at yourself in the mirror. Even when you’re faking it, eventually just by smiling, it will turn genuine. Always smile.”
Brad went to college and majored in Art History, and also Business Management.
While at college, Brad was accepted in to the John Casablancas Centre – a famous modelling and acting school in the US.
Brad is a well known man in Alice Springs. One little known fact in town is that he was on American Idol.
“It was Season 7, the year before Adam Lambert stole my glory,” he said.
“They weren’t ready for the gay guy with eye liner yet!
“The show is very different to what you see on TV. I loved to sing the oldies like Barry Manilow, Marvin Gaye and the Five Satins.
“Back then I had long blonde hair and a clean shaven face. They wanted to mould me in to pop boy band-kind’ve thing. That wasn’t my style. I didn’t get too far.
“But I made my Mom so proud.”
Brad’s life changed forever one day working as manager at a seafood restaurant, the Blue Fish.
“A guy – Hans – came in between the lunch and dinner shifts. I didn’t know he was gay- because he was very masculine! My gaydar is never good,” Brad said.
“We were just chatting, he said it was his second day back in America. He had just spent two years in Australia with the army.
“He’d been to the barber shop next door, but they didn’t have any availability yet, so he came in for a drink.
“I said, ‘Australia! I’m never going there! All the spiders and snakes – I have arachnophobia! Nope! Count me out.
“Then Hans had to go back to the barber, we say ‘Nice to meet you’, then he leaves.
“Then he comes back! The little server working with me said, ‘He came back.’
“I said, ‘Honey, they always do!’
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“It turns out they were still busy at the barber. He orders another wine, I say, ‘This one’s on me.’
“Then he goes finally gets his hair cut, then comes back again.
“At that point it was really busy, I was running around. Another waiter wrote the bill out, then Hans filled it out, I got it and put it in my apron pocket.
“An hour later I go on break, and look at this bill. He wrote, ‘I think you’re really nice, I love your personality, you’re really cute …’ he said he’d like to take me out some time.
“I know you’re meant to be cool and wait. I called him immediately! Hans now says that should have been a red flag!”
Brad and Hans have been together ever since. A year later they moved in together, another year later they tied the knot.
Hans proposed at midnight under a Super Blue Moon as the waves crashed in to the shore on Daytona Beach.
Brad said that night was one of the most treasured memories of his life.
The wedding in 2013 was before marriage equality was realised across all 50 US states, so the closest place they would marry was Maryland.
“It was in a beautiful park in Ellicott City,” he said.
“Hans is amazing! I think every girl, and gay boy, dreams of a man like Hans. He literally marked everything off the list I wrote of what I want in a spouse.
“He is everything my Mother warned me about – I literally married my father. He’s the same: Military man, hard working, no nonsense, he’s kind to me, faithful, loving, he spoils me. All the good stuff!
Hans had career opportunities that would see them either move to Texas or Australia. Brad said, why not go the whole hog and move Down Under.
Brad, Hans and Brad’s cat Sable moved to Alice Springs.
“Sable is now 12 years old! He is my baby. When I got him, he was a little too young, so I bottle fed him. He’s been with me since my first studio apartment,” he said.
“Then our other fur baby is Alice, she’s the best dog ever. She’s a Great Dane/Mastiff mix.”
Brad worked at Subway in town for four years, and is still known as ‘The Subway Guy’.
“Now after two years at Sporties, I’m finally starting to get ‘The Sporties Guy’,” he said.
“I love working at Sporties. Jason and Jane Adami are the best people to work for. They are kind and generous, and the customers are so nice.
“I loved Subway too, I was managing and had an awesome team, including my best friend Mikayla!
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“I love Alice Springs. The people are so lovely and so kind. They’re not pretentious or judgmental. I walk around in sparkles and fancy shoes, and no one bats an eye.”
Despite being thrown off a scooter by a kangaroo and having multiple visits from deadly Western Brown snakes, Brad says the joy he gets from Alice, and his job at Sporties makes him never want to leave.
When the day does come to return to the US, Brad says he wants more of the desert life- perhaps Arizona or New Mexico.
“We want to adopt when we go back. I really want to be a parent,” he said.
Brad says his dream job back home would be working in Real Estate.
Honest, hardworking, charismatic and kind. I’d buy a house off him!
In summary – and to all of Brad’s American family and friends reading this:
Brad Hayden-Mayberry is what we in Australia call ‘A Bloody Ripper Bloke!’.
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