Happy 77th birthday to the great Ian McKellen – check out his new ‘It Got Better’ video

Ian McKellen turns 77 today – the same week as his It Got Better video was released by the It Gets Better Project. He talks about being closeted professionally for a big chunk of his career:

‘In the British theater individuality of course was celebrated. There were other gay people – all of them closeted, discreet. Nobody gave an interview and said they were gay. I thought if I were to talk about it in an interview – because there was opportunities – that it might affect my job prospects. If people knew I was gay they wouldn’t want me to play Romeo for example. … Nobody talked about being gay.’ ‘I wasn’t living a lie – I was just avoiding talking about it in certain situations. I thought this is just how one behaved.’