Tag: coming out

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Colton Haynes Shares Losing His Virginity At 13 Plus His Hollywood “Tab Hunter” Situation

Andy Cohen (L) interviews Colton Haynes (R)
(image via Instagram)

Speaking to Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy,” Arrow/Teen Wolf star Colton Haynes candidly shared personal details about his dating life including losing his virginity at the age of 13 to both a girl and a guy, albeit separately, and being set up on fake dates in Hollywood to hide his sexuality.

• “I lost my virginity at 13 to a girl and a guy. I’ve never said that before. The girl was two years older than me, and the guy was, I would say, around 16. Everyone participated. It was a real first time. It was exciting.”

• “I was literally told from the day that I moved to Los Angeles that I could not be gay because I wouldn’t work. Then I was with my management team and a team of people that just literally told me I couldn’t be this way. They tried to set me up with girls. I was rumored to date Lauren Conrad (of The Hills) for six months because they were kind of angling a story. And then I dated every other young person which of course I didn’t date.”

Haynes said his “dates” all understood what was going on. “They knew the whole time. It was like a Tab Hunter situation.”

Watch below:

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Tyler Oakley Asks Woofy Gus Kenworthy About Coming Out, First Kisses And More

Gus Kenworthy (L) and Tyler Oakley (R)

Adorable Tyler Oakley chats with woofy Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy about his coming out, his first gay kiss, the first time he had sex with another guy, and the first time he saw gay porn.

Kenworthy also shares how his life has changed since coming out, and the advice he would give to closeted gays.

Watch the way cute guys chat below.

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“The Flash” Star Keiynan Lonsdale Comes Out As Bisexual

Keiynan Lonsdale, currently appearing as “Kid Flash” on the CW’s The Flash, came out as bisexual in a earnest Instagram post this weekend.

Lonsdale began his post, “I like to change my hair, I like to take risks with how I dress, I like girls, & I like guys (yes), I like growing, I like learning, I like who I am and I really like who I’m becoming.”

He added, “I’ve become bored of being insecure, ashamed, scared… no one should feel like that about themselves, especially when there is so much good life to live.”

I like to change my hair, I like to take risks with how I dress, I like girls, & I like guys (yes), I like growing, I like learning, I like who I am and I really like who I’m becoming. Spent way too many years hating myself, thinking I was less valuable because I was different.. which is just untrue. A couple years ago I was able to accept myself, & it saved my life, but now I’ve gotten to a new road block & I feel kind of lost. I gotta take the next step & actually embrace who I am, which is pretty exciting. Not faking shit anymore, not apologising for falling in love with people no matter their gender. I’ve become bored of being insecure, ashamed, scared… no one should feel like that about themselves, especially when there is so much good life to live. Ya know more & more I see so many young people being their best / truest selves, it’s fucking inspiring… so what have I been waiting for!? Who knows. Everyone in their own time. I hope we can all learn to embrace who we are & not judge people who aren’t exactly the same as us. The truth is we are all family, we’re all one. Just love. Keiy. ❤
A post shared by Keiynan Lonsdale 🥀 (@keiynanlonsdale) on May 12, 2017 at 11:17pm PDT

Out producer Greg Berlanti, who created The Flash, has hired several out actors for the super-hero series including Victor Garber (Martin Stein/Firestorm), Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold), and Andy Mientus (Pied Piper).

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Sense8 Season 2 Delivers Spectacular Coming Out Kiss At São Paulo Pride

Alfonso Herrera and Miguel Ángel Silvestre share a kiss in a scene from Sense8

Love, love, loving season 2 of Netflix’s sci-fi-fi series, Sense8.

On top  of the complex, sophisticated story-telling, the gay and transgender storylines are front and center, and handled well with sensitivity and authenticity.

One of the highlights of the 11 new episodes occurs as newly out action movie star “Lito Rodriguez” (played by hunky Miguel Ángel Silvestre) is invited to be grand marshal of São Paulo Pride in Brazil.

In his speech at Pride (actually filmed at São Paulo Pride last year), Rodriguez cautiously shares the fears that lead to actors staying in the closet.

“All of my life, I’ve had to pretend to be something I wasn’t. I couldn’t be what I am. I am a gay man. I’ve never said those words in public before. I am a gay man! I am a gay man!”

“Why did I have to be so afraid to say that? Because I know that people are afraid of people that are different than them. And admitting that I’m different, and refusing to be something that I am not, may cost me a career of pretending to be things that I am not, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. But I did. I did.

“For years, I was living inside the fake world of movies, never to imagine that one day, I might be brave enough to do something like this.”

“This is Hernando. He is the love of my life. I am a better and braver person because of him. And whatever it cost for me to be able to do this, I know in my heart that it is worth it.”

The entire season lives up to and exceeds my expectations. Not only regarding LGBT characters but the storytelling as a whole.

I can’t recommend season 2 of Sense8 enough. Check it out now on Netflix.

Watch “Lito’s” speech below.

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Ellen DeGeneres Celebrates 20th Anniversary Of Her Famous Coming Out

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of her landmark “Yep, I’m Gay” coming-out episode on her 90s sitcom, Ellen Degeneres looked back with a little help from friends like Oprah Winfrey, Laura Dern and Michelle Obama on the Friday episode of her talk show.

Via People:

Winfrey and Dern — both of whom guest starred in the iconic 1997 episode in which DeGeneres’ character came out as gay — stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week to reflect on the moment.

Though Obama couldn’t be there to mark the milestone with DeGeneres in person, the former first lady surprised her friend with an emotional video tribute that aired on her Friday show.

Titled “The Puppy Episode,” the famous moment aired April 30, 1997.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Ellen shared how emotional just saying the words “I’m gay” were for her in rehearsals.

AP: “Ellen” cast member Joely Fisher recalled that you held back from saying the line “I’m gay” in pre-taping rehearsals. Why?

DeGeneres: Because the first time we were blocking it and rehearsing it (the scene), I started to say it and I would tear up. And I realized how charged that sentence was because, you know, when you’re gay, the only time you say “I’m gay” is when you’re revealing it to someone, when you’re telling your parents or when you’re telling someone close to you. Because most people never have to say, “I’m straight.” …. So Laura (guest star Laura Dern) kept saying, “Just don’t say it,” because she saw how hard it was for me.

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Ricky Martin On Coming Out: “I’ve Been The Happiest Man Ever Since!”

Ricky Martin


CBS Sunday Morning profiled out and proud pop star Ricky Martin yesterday as he opens his new residency at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas.

Ricky was particularly poignant when discussing the coming out process for him, and what kept him in the closet.

From the segment:

“I was afraid of rejection, ’cause unfortunately, first of all, for many years everyone, a lot of people told me that my feelings were evil — ‘What you’re feeling is not godly.’ If I’m feeling this, I’m not a good person.

“No more of that. I’m a good person. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me. No. No. Enough. Not more of that. And I’ve been the happiest man ever since!”

Watch the segment below.

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Flashback Friday: Ellen DeGeneres’ Groundbreaking Coming Out 20 Years Ago Today

It was 20 years ago this week that Ellen DeGeneres made history by coming out on her primetime sitcom.

In doing so, she became the first openly gay lead character on American network television.

You may have noticed the sky never fell 🙂

TIME.com shares her 1997 cover story interview, and it’s well worth the re-reading.

As we all know, while coming out did bruise Ellen’s career for a period of time, it’s clear she (and a more enlightened America) have the last laugh.

Just last year, she received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in part for that courageous, groundbreaking moment of self-truth in 1997.

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Short Film: Ian McKellen On Growing Up Gay And Coming Out

In this compelling short film (directed by Joe Stephenson for Tate Britain’s new Queer British Art exhibit), Scott Chambers gives an emotional performance evoking the feelings of a young Ian McKellen, as the acclaimed actor narrates his account of growing up in a time when there was no possibility of being out as a young gay man.

“Gay people, homosexuals, conducted their lives as secretly as possible. There was nobody who was out. Nobody.”

“Part of the reason I proselytize, talk about being gay, is because I don’t want today’s children not to enjoy their sexuality, be aware of it, think about it, puzzle about it, discuss it, have it out in the open, because of course it’s central to what you are.”

Watch below:

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The Sadness In Barry Manilow’s Coming Out

As social media folks responded to music man Barry Manilow’s official “coming out,” my friend Roger Rosen, a talented writer, wrote the following.

I think this addresses an important aspect of the story:

Barry said, “I thought I would be disappointing [the fans] if they knew I was gay. So I never did anything.” There is so much sadness in this quote. We’re taught that the very nature of our being makes us “disappointing.” And while I understand that the majority of his fans have been straight women, I’m fascinated that he can’t even conceive of the fact that some of his fans, gay men, of which he is one, might be thrilled for him to speak his truth.

The idea that we come out of the closet suggests that we must go in. From that first red flag in the back of our heads as little children, we know to lie. It’s self-preservation. While I think it’s probably pretty human to look at Barry Manilow and say, “Really? You couldn’t have done this sooner,” or, “Please, grrl, who DIDN’T know???”, I think it’s probably more useful to create a world where little Barry Manilows everywhere never feel the impulse to go in a closet they then need to come out of.

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Barry Manilow Officially Comes Out

Pop music icon Barry Manilow officially comes out (finally) in an interview with People Magazine.

Manilow says he stayed closeted, in part, because he didn’t want to “disappoint” his fans.

After skyrocketing to fame in 1974 with his pop-rock ballad “Mandy,” the Brooklyn native’s star only got brighter with the release of classics like “Looks Like We Made It,” “Copacabana (At the Copa)” and “Can’t Smile Without You.” Then in 1978, he met Kief — a TV executive and Houston native — and “I knew that this was it,” says Manilow. “I was one of the lucky ones. I was pretty lonely before that.”

Soon after, Kief became Manilow’s manager, a role he still holds today, in addition to being President of Barry Manilow Productions.

“He’s the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life — and a great guy, too,” Manilow says.

And the couple has stayed together for 39 years, all while remaining mum on his sexuality — an open secret to some in his long-devoted, mostly female fan base, a shock to others — and even stepping out and living with once-rumored love interest Linda Allen during his relationship with Kief.

Manilow admits he’s always been hesitant to discuss the relationship — and to come out publicly, even after he finally married Kief in a clandestine ceremony at their 53-acre Palm Springs estate in April 2014.

In 2015, news of their marriage and Manilow’s sexuality made headlines, something the legend calls “a blessing and a curse.”

Considering his fans, “I thought I would be disappointing them if they knew I was gay. So I never did anything,” says Manilow. Turns out, “When they found out that Garry and I were together, they were so happy. The reaction was so beautiful — strangers commenting, ‘Great for you!’ I’m just so grateful for it.”

While it’s one of the worst kept “secrets” in Hollywood, you can look back and see a subliminal message in his songs. Was he trying to say something years ago?