Greg In Hollywood chats with Jaason Simmons of “Baywatch” fame about being an out actor

Jaason Simmons, who played the role of Logan Fowler on Baywatch, came out publicly as a gay man in 2008.

We spoke at last week’s Laugh Out Loud benefit and the 40-year-old actor from Australia said his life has been “no different” since he went public with his sexuality three years ago.

“I’ve always been out to my friends and family and everything,” he explained. “Professionally I wasn’t only because I was a shy kid and I didn’t talk about my private life anyway. But it comes to a point that you realize you have a responsibility so it wasn’t about me anymore.”

Although his life is not so different since coming out, the initial wave of publicity was something of a shock.

“It was an amazing experience,” he said. “The week that it was announced it was a small story in Australia and it went global within 24 hours which we didn’t expect it to do and that was the overwhelming part. I think because I was on Baywatch and having a gay guy on it was a headline. So the original part was a bit daunting but afterward, it’s just back to life and back to everything.”

He stays in touch with “about seven or eight” of his former Baywatch co-stars including Alexandra Paul and David Chokachi.