Kelly McGillis talks about coming out

There’s nothing more fun than spreading out the Sunday paper and reading it over coffee. As I was going through the Los Angeles Times this morning, I was especially struck my a new interview with Kelly McGillis in the Calendar section. She’s about to open in The Little Foxes at the Pasadena Playhouse as Regina, the part played by Bette Davis in the film.

The article by Irene Lacher goes a bit deeper than anywhere previously into the actress’ decision to come out publicly as a lesbian during a video blog interview with SheWired.com and why she waited so long:

McGillis, who became a major star with lead roles in Top Gun, Witness and The Accused, is now 51 and been largely out of the limelight in recent years. While her coming out as a lesbian was big news, she told The Times that her disclosure was unplanned.

“That woman asked me a question and I was at one of those moments in your life when you say, ‘Am I going to speak my truth or continue the façade?’ And I chose the truth.”

The actress had long believed that God was punishing her for being gay and used to believe that God’s retribution was behind a 1982 sexual assault, ab experience which led her to play an attorney in the 1988 film The Accused after first turning down the role of the rape victim because the memory of her own ordeal was still too raw. (Yhe part later went to Jodie Foster, who won an Oscar for her performance).

“Because I had been sexually assaulted, and I was at the time with a woman, I thought I was being punished,” McGillis said. “And for a long, long time, I really tried to be something I’m not, somebody who’s not gay. And I have to say it ruined my life in a lot of ways. Denial of self was incredibly self-destructive, incredibly destructive. And I’m not willing, once again, to go back. I’m only willing today to move forward.”

Good for her! It’s always a beautiful thing when someone decides to live out loud. I wish her the very best.