My chat with Andrea Martin about Joey Fatone’s coming out scene in ‘My Big Fat greek Wedding 2’

Andrea Martin was trying to be good.

She was not aware that Joey Fatone, who plays her son in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, had already made public that his character comes out as gay in the sequel to the 2002 comedy hit.

‘I can’t believe he talked about it,’ Martin told me at a recent Paleyfest event for the Hulu show Difficult People in which she appears. ‘Nia (Vardalos – the writer and star) thought we should keep it a secret.’

When the two-time Tony Award winner assured that it was already very public news Martin batted her eyes and said, ‘Well, I’m a good little girl so I don’t want to talk about it that much.

But then she did – a little.

‘I play his mother and I think Nia wrote the (coming out) scene in a very abbreviated and delicate way. There’s nothing exploitative about it. It’s very tender. It’s very brief but beautiful.’

She adds: ‘It gives (Fatone) an opportunity to really expand on his character.’

Fatone, a one-time member of NSYNC, said last week that Angelo’s coming out is treated ‘with a shrug and a smile.

He said he is grateful to Vardalos for the story twist which he says was ‘such a lovely thing to shoot that day.’ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 hits theaters on Friday.

Martin, previously best known for the classic sketch comedy show SCTV and for her work on Broadway, says it was fun to step back into the breakout comedic role of Aunt Voula in Greek Wedding 2.

‘There’s something very moving about seeing the exact same people after 14 years. Michael Constantine is 89. Nobody thought twice about the offer when we were asked to do it. Everybody jumped on board. It really does feel like a family and it felt like a reunion.’