Sam Smith has had ''a lot'' of one-night stands.

The 'Like I Can' hitmaker has revealed he struggled with his sexuality in his teenage and young adult years, admitting he had a number of flings and hung out with ''dodgy'' people.

He explained: ''I had a lot of one-night stands. I met a few dodgy friends, people I'm definitely not friends with now.''

The 22-year-old star - who split from boyfriend Jonathan Zeizel earlier this month - also opened up about the difficulties of falling in love with men who weren't interested in him.

He said: ''I fell in love with a straight guy last year, and he didn't love me back. I got trapped in my own mind.''

Sam admits, however, that after declaring his love for a boy who was a couple of years older than him at school, he was surprised by the reaction he received.

He told Rolling Stone magazine: ''It makes me emotional, actually. He looked out for me for the rest of school. He just made sure that if anyone took the p**s out of me, he would stick up for me. He could have made it hell for me.''

The 'Stay With Me' crooner admits not everyone is so comfortable with his sexuality, however, and remembers feeling ''embarrassed'' when a stranger hurled homophobic abuse at him while he was with his father.

He added: ''I was just embarrassed that my dad had to see that, because I could only imagine how you feel as a parent. You just want to kill them. I was always embarrassed for the people around me. It never actually deeply affected me. You just ignore it, you know?''

Opening up about being attacked shortly after moving to London, Sam added: ''I got punched in my neck, just out of nowhere. It wasn't the easiest.''