Stay In The Closet

[TampaYankee]

Rupert Everett's Advice To Gay Actors: Stay In The Closet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/02/rupert-everetts-advice-to_n_377010.html

Rupert Everett has been openly gay since he came out 20 years ago, but he doesn't recommend that route for other actors.

"It's not that advisable to be honest. It's not very easy," he told UK's Guardian. "And, honestly, I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out."

At 50, the 'My Best Friend's Wedding' star says that homophobia in Hollywood has kept him from becoming a leading man. He says that heterosexuals are cast as gays (pointing to 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Transamerica') but gay men are denied the plum straight roles and often reduced to drag.

"The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business," he said. "It just doesn't work and you're going to hit a brick wall at some point. You're going to manage to make it roll for a certain amount of time, but at the first sign of failure they'll cut you right off. And I'm sick of saying, 'Yes, it's probably my own fault.' Because I've always tried to make it work and when it stops working somewhere, I try to make it work somewhere else. But the fact of the matter is, and I don't care who disagrees, it doesn't work if you're gay."

Everett does admit that his openness about his sexuality has afforded him personal happiness if not professional success. He's glad he's not one of the "plenty" of gay Hollywood stars still stuck in the closet.

"I think, all in all, I'm probably much happier than they are," he said. "I may not be as rich or successful, but at least I'm vaguely free to be myself."

The outspoken actor has never been one to shy away from controversy. He previously said that President Obama has "gone black" and talked about Graydon Carter's "monster cock."

You can read the whole Guardian interview here.

[TotallyOz]

I was not happy with his statement as I firmly believe the more that come out the better it is for all of us. That being said, I realize it is hard for young actors and their careers are affected. I am not sure I'd be able to come out if I were in that business.

[caeron]

Unfortunately, I think it's just honest.

most actors and actresses are sexual fantasy material for a sexually repressed majority who won't just get over themselves and watch porn

They want their fantasies straight and clean.

[Guest StuCotts]

Rupert Everett's Advice To Gay Actors: Stay In The Closet

... talked about Graydon Carter's "monster cock."

On a different note:

Breathes there a size queen with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

"No cock is big enough to counteract this number's looks"?

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graydon_Carter

P.S. Coming out for the sake of principle is all very well, but having to suffer in your

personal and professional life for it introduces grave doubts about the advisability.

[TotallyOz]

Coming out in Hollywood not always easy

CNN) -- Meredith Baxter's recent revelation that she is a lesbian resonates with other celebrities who have been forced to discuss their sexuality publicly after gossip and tabloid speculation put a spotlight on the issue.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres used her trademark comedy to reveal herself as a lesbian back in 1997, and Neil Patrick Harris, who played a teen doctor on the television show "Doogie Howser, M.D." 20 years ago, told People magazine in 2006 that he is a "content gay man." Before the interview, Harris' sexual orientation was the subject of widespread speculation.

Baxter's publicist Howard Bragman explains that the time was right for the actress to come out -- even though she had been dating women for several years. Bragman has been shepherding gay celebrities out of the closet since Dick Sargent, who played Darrin Stephens, the beleaguered husband on "Bewitched," came out in 1991.

Recently, when asked by the National Enquirer whether she was gay, Baxter decided to make the media rounds. She agreed to interviews with NBC's "Today," Sirius XM Radio's "The Frank DeCaro Show" and The Advocate.

"When a celebrity is being chased by the tabloids, you want to own the story, instead of have the story own you," Bragman says.

And of course, by telling her story on her terms, Baxter can harness the publicity.

Bragman -- author of the book "Where's My 15 Minutes?", which includes a chapter devoted to coming out -- says that Baxter will have a book of her own to promote soon. Bragman says the biography, which Baxter is working on now, should hit stores in the next year or so.

Many actors are wary of whether the public will embrace their real identity or whether the revelation could restrict the roles they are offered.

British actor Rupert Everett recently told the British newspaper The Observer that he "would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out."

For some actors, that decision is made for them.

Danny Pintauro, who played the lovable little brother on "Who's the Boss?" for eight seasons, says the National Enquirer broke the story of his homosexuality while he was an undergraduate at Stanford University more than 10 years ago. He agreed to be interviewed for the article and is philosophical about the incident.

"If it hadn't been the Enquirer, it would have been something else," he says. "I was actually glad it had happened."

Pintauro says that the revelation did not hurt his acting career, which he resumed after graduating from Stanford, but it did have an impact.

"Everyone in the country knew I was gay, so the attempt to play someone straight was hard," he remembers. "And I wasn't sure I wanted to. I was very comfortable being gay."

Now, he works as an assistant at the talent agency APA (Agency for the Performing Arts) in Los Angeles. He still acts occasionally and will appear in an upcoming episode of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" on ABC Family.

Confirming rumors about his sexuality has not seemed to derail Harris' career. He stars in the long-running CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother" as a womanizing bank executive and hosted the Emmys in September.

Mitchell Anderson, who played gay violin teacher Ross Werkman on the 1990s drama "Party of Five," says he appreciates having more homosexual actors, such as Harris, in the public eye.

His decision to come out as a gay man in 1996 was spontaneous, and, he points out, a rarity at the time. Ellen DeGeneres didn't make her landmark announcement until the following year.

Still, Anderson says, "I believe it helped me as an actor. I don't think my career suffered at all." He said that the ability to be honest about being gay allowed him to improve his work, and to help develop a story line in which his character adopted a child.

Bragman says we will hear more announcements like Baxter's in the coming years -- and to expect them from big stars.

"We live in a very transparent society," he says. "There is no such thing as a secret anymore."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/04/celebs.coming.out/index.html